Opening night is upon us for the 2024-2025 season! At various points during the season, we will be giving you the power rankings for all the teams, so welcome to the Opening Night Edition! Being that this is made before the season starts, this will be more of a prediction as well as power rankings from our perspective. There are many variables to look out for with each team, and whether that sinks or rise up teams, it remains to be seen. With all this out of the way, lets get to the rankings for opening night, starting from worst to first.

Being that the Sharks were the worst team in the league last season with a historically awful start, and winning the top spot of the draft, it comes to no surprise we find San Jose down at the bottom. They will see a much needed infusion of young talent from Will Smith (4th Overall Pick in 2023) and Macklin Celebrini, who they selected 1st overall this past draft. Despite that, this team has a long way to go before they get back to contending again, so this season will be another wash for them as they acquire more young talent for the future.

Before we go into analyzing Columbus, everyone at the Lobos Power Hour sends our deepest condolences to the families of Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau and the Columbus Blue Jackets organization as a whole. Even before the tragedy, it was going to be rough sledding for them. It’ll be a herculean task for them to rise up the standings much. That being said, they still have loads of young talent to work with, so it may not be too much longer before they can rise up. In the meantime, however, they’ll still be a bottom feeder.

Chicago is a year removed from picking 1st overall and this past draft they selected 2nd overall, so naturally they could fall here at the 3rd worst team. Having a healthy Connor Bedard for the year will help massively, and the Hawks did spend the summer acquiring and signing vets to surround him with such as Teravainen. We expect a better Chicago team than we’ve seen the past couple years, but not so much better that it catapults them up the standings much. Only positive is seeing how much more Bedard shows off during the season.

The Flames have begun to go down the path of rebuilding with their deadline moves last season when they moved Hanifin, Lindholm, etc. They’re looking at the future now, and that starts in net in Dustin Wolf from their AHL affiliate taking the reins from former goalie Jacob Markstrom. Calgary is going to be very shallow on forward and defensive depth this season, and are just going to float through the season and sell more at the deadline. They already started that plan with signing Tyson Barrie for a year, as he will inevitably be deadline fodder, possibly along with Anthony Mantha, Blake Coleman, and/or Ryan Lomberg. The Flames have desperately needed a rebuild for a long while, and fans should be relieved, but it is going to be a very rough few years and more for Calgary.

We are going to be blunt here; last season was a total fluke. The Flyers shocked many fans when they were competing for a playoff spot throughout the entire season, but once the calendar was flipping to April, they were well on their way to a collapse out of the playoff picture entirely. The biggest problems with Philadelphia deal with the defense, and the goaltending. Once “He Who Shall Not Be Named” was cut after legal debacles they had no answers in net, and it looks to continue this season. Defense will fall massively on if Drysdale can stay healthy, and even then we doubt he could carry the burden of the Flyers long suffering blue line. The forwards get a huge boost, however, from Russian superstar Matvei Michkov, who will make immediate impact (perhaps on the level of Connor Bedard) once he debuts. Overall, we expect the Flyers to massively regress back to where they were expected to be last season.

Montreal is still a year or two away, but they should at least be competitive enough to not be a full on lottery team. They have loads of young talent still in need of developing, and that starts with a possible breakout year for 2022 1st Overall Pick Juraj Slafkovsky and 2nd Rounder Lane Hutson. Hutson managed to play a couple games at the end of the Habs season and has shown great promise, assisting in 2 goals in 2 games. Slafkovsky did already start showing the same promise last season, but he must look to pick it up here this season if the Habs want any chance of rising in the standings. Overall, it should be an interesting year for the Canadiens, but we still believe that the Atlantic will be far too hectic for Montreal to make any major jumps quite yet, although the time will come very soon.

This may be a hot take, but we expect Washington to fall off hard after a shocking season where they punched well above their weight and snuck into the playoffs. Despite them upgrading by acquiring Mangiapane, Chychrun, and Thompson, they lack enough impact to move the needle much. You may have noticed I did not list Dubois among their upgrades. Dubois is still as polarizing as ever, and his contract from the day it was signed was already among the worst in the league, so time will tell whether or not he is a true upgrade for the team. The Caps will have to rely on Ovechkin still being capable of scoring goals at will. He looked as though he fell off at the start of last season, but rebounded, only to lay an egg in the playoffs. It is tough to gauge Ovi at this stage of his career, but this team was long due for regression, and last season only delayed the inevitable in our opinion.

Much like the Canadiens, the Ducks look to shoot up the standings after years of basement dwelling, and we believe Anaheim has all the talent to do that very soon. There still is too many teams for Anaheim to leapfrog to truly be in a playoff spot this season, especially with their lack of moves over the summer and still boasting a very mercurial defense. The defensive talent will fully emerge come next season, and we expect that would be the year the Ducks finally make a playoff push. That being said, the Pacific is looking to be very weak this season, so the chance is there for the Ducks to surprise, but we will err on the side of caution.

Impressively, the Islanders always remain to stay in the middle of the league and squeeze into the playoffs year after year, but at some point something has to give, and we believe this year may be the start of it finally. As usual, not many moves were made in the offseason besides bringing in Duclair, and the team still lacks any legitimate star power. Yet again, the defense is Sorokin will have to carry the load, although Sorokin may be a bit questionable due to his offseason surgery. The Islanders only advantage is that the Metro is still very weak, so 4th place is very possible for them. However, with how stacked the Atlantic looks, it is doubtful the Islanders have the steam to snatch a wild card.

We are entering Year 6 of the Yzerplan, and all the Red Wings have to boast is one of the most middling rosters ever assembled. The forwards will not be much of a problem with the addition of Tarasenko, but the lineup everywhere else has severe holes. Moritz Seider will again have to carry the defense on his back, while the goaltending leaves much to be desired. A tandem of Cam Talbot and Ville Husso in 2024 will not bode well. The Red Wings need more of their prospects to pop off, including goalie Sebastian Cossa if they desire to really push for a wild card spot. Overall, this team is plagued by average or worse FA signings and one of the worst defensive corps in the league. If Detroit does not take significant steps this season, fans may start rightly calling out general manager Steve Yzerman for the mess.

Seattle is still a very young franchise, so we can give them the benefit of the doubt for some things, but this past offseason have brought many worries regarding their future outlook. On paper signing Montour and Stephenson would be fine, but the contracts given out were less than desirable. Montour should at least help for a couple years potentially, but we believe Stephenson’s contract will age terribly sooner than later. If that is all they did this past summer, we would not be so brash on them, but then they hired Dan Bylsma as head coach. Most of us at the Lobos Power Hour are fans of the Penguins, so we know far too well how this man is a bad head coach, and it seems the NHL is not done with him despite not being a head coach since 2017. With Bylsma at coach along with overpaid veteran additions, we do not expect much outside being a middling team. Beniers and Wright fully breaking out will help them rise up from middling status, but that remains to be seen with the way this team is currently constructed and coached.

Ottawa has been trying to break out for at least a couple of seasons now, but it seems they continue to be stuck in the mud. On paper, this is a playoff team, but injuries and disappointing performance consistently derail their aspirations. The Sens do have a solid chance of finally breaking out, and it depends on a few factors: Josh Norris staying healthy, Jake Sanderson continuing to breakout, and Linus Ullmark bringing his Bruins form to Ottawa. Norris has sadly been taken out with season ending injuries the past couple of years, and he is so vital for the forward core as a reliable 2C below Stutzle. The blueline has to keep making strides, and doing so may just help Ullmark keep up with his Bruins form. He is the biggest X-factor on the team. Before he ended up with Boston, he was an average goalie at best, but playing behind Boston’s defense proved fruitful for him the past few seasons. Now that he is away from their system, question is if he can be that guy for Ottawa? It has been a long while since the Sens have had a reliable goaltender, so if Ullmark can be that, expect this team to finally fully compete for a playoff spot.

For their first season, Utah should have a lot to look forward too. While they were in Arizona, they were already boasting a bright future of prospects, and now with the drama of relocation lifted from the team, they can be ready to make a big step into competing for a wild card in the relatively weak Western Conference. Their defense should be among the more well rounded units in the league after acquiring both Sergachev and John Marino over the summer, and another year with young studs in Logan Cooley and Dylan Guenther will give this team a major boost. It is possible they struggle to launch this season, but with how weak the West is overall we expect Utah to give a solid effort in the wild card hunt.

Looking back, its unbelievable the Jets finished 5th in the league last season. Hellebuyck had yet another stellar season, and the defense did its job to pave the way to the best Jets season since the 2017-18 season. We believe it is fair to say, however, that they did overachieve. They still should be competing for the playoffs, but to expect them to match their record last season would be a folly. This team goes as far as Hellebuyck carries them to, and that showed when they were swept to the side by the Avalanche in 5 games last season. The Jets did not make any major moves this offseason beyond trading disgruntled prospect Rutger McGroarty to Pittsburgh in exchange for Brayden Yager. It looks to be more of the same middling Jets team of years past for this season, despite the strong 2023-24 season, which we predict to be an aberration as the Jets fall back down towards the middle of the league.

The Blues are in a strange spot heading into 2024-25. They finished 16th in the league last season, missing the playoffs by 6 points, despite being on the edge of a potential rebuild. Heading into this season, it appears they shifted their focus into a retool. Signing RFAs Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg are huge acquisitions for the team, especially Broberg with how depleted their blueline is with several aging talents. Holloway could be looking at a breakout year playing in the Blues top 6 instead of being stuck on the Oilers bottom 6. In our eyes, the defense is the one major thing keeping the Blues from finishing any higher in the rankings. The forward core is amazing, the depth is decent, and that alone will win them an average amount of games. Unless the tandem between Binnington and Hofer carries like last season, they look to finish just outside the playoff picture for yet another season.

The Penguins have been on a slow decline that started from missing the playoffs for the first time in decades a couple years ago, and we believe this might be the last season before the wheels completely fall off. Sidney Crosby continues to play at an elite level, and that alone will help Pittsburgh win more games than normal. The team has made some clear moves signaling the beginning of a rebuild. Kevin Hayes was acquired with a 2nd Round Pick in a cap dump, Reilly Smith was dealt for a 2nd, and a few players were signed to low risk deals like Matt Grzelcyk and Anthony Beauvillier. The major move, however, was swapping blue chip prospect Brayden Yager for another blue chipper in Rutger MrGroarty, who can help the team now. Overall, however, the team is still mired in mediocrity and will continue to be unless several veterans such as Letang and Karlsson bounce back in a major way. They could still feasibly contend for a wild card, given how weak the Metro is, but that will be difficult with the stacked Atlantic Division contending for those same spots.

The Buffalo Sabres have been projected to take the next step into playoff contention for the past two seasons, and both times they fell flat only to rebound at the last minute (and barely miss anyway). They have the talent and a possibly good goalie tandem to make it happen, the question is if they actually achieve it? Perhaps bringing Lindy Ruff back as coach changes that, but as of now they are an enigma. A full season with Bowen Byram (who they acquired from Colorado last season for Casey Mittelstadt) will do wonders for their blueline already stacked with potential elite talents alongside Owen Power or Rasmus Dahlin. The only major transaction they made was trading blue chip prospect Matthew Savoie for the Oilers bottom 6 forward Ryan McLeod, which is a questionable trade to say the least. McLeod at least has elite speed, but time will tell if that trade pans out in anyway. We expect the Sabres to be right in the middle, and they should compete for a wild card. Knowing this team’s recent history, however, makes this outlook questionable.

LA will be riding the struggle bus this season after losing Drew Doughty for several months and being stuck with yet another subpar goalie tandem. They managed to rid themselves of the contract of Pierre-Luc Dubois, but at the cost of getting another bad (give or take more manageable) contract with Darcy Kuemper. Without Doughty, the defense falls on Brandt Clarke to pick up the mantle. Even then, they will find it difficult to keep up with their defensive trap without Doughty, and the goalies are just simply not good enough. The offense will have to pick up the pace, and that starts with Quinton Byfield continuing his development to a star. The Kings still have the talent to make a wild card push, or even to get into the top 3 in the Pacific if things fall right for them. The question, however, is how high their ceiling truly is. Playoffs are probable, but we doubt they can make it out of the first round again.

The Wild were very quiet this past offseason, and did not make any major additions, primarily due the dead cap hits due to buying out Ryan Suter and Zach Parise. Fortunately for them, this is the final year they will be on the books. Minnesota is still a solidly built team with a great future of prospects on the horizon. Jesper Wallstedt could possibly see his first real playing time this season, but Gustavsson or Fleury would have to lose their spot to make that happen. This team still has good talent, and they will be pushing for a wild card, but their ceiling is still hindered by their cap. The Wild will improve over time, but for now, they are just above average.

Boston has been projected to fall off for a couple years now, and they do not seem so keen on going away. We do have them lower on these rankings primarily due to the intense competition in the Atlantic as well as a plethora of improving teams above them. The Bruins made a massive upgrade at center in signing Elias Lindholm, but made a questionable overpay to defensemen Nikita Zadorov at the same time. Depth scoring is still a major problem for the team, and it will again fall to the defense and goaltending to carry the load. Ullmark was dealt to Ottawa, and for awhile it was looking they would be without fellow star goalie Jeremy Swayman. Fortunately, he was just signed yesterday for 8 years, so they still will have an elite goalie at the backend. They should be well in playoff contention, but it is possible they do fall off if the offense declines in any sort of way.

Nashville saw a good rebound to old form last season, and they are going all in on it this season. Signing Stamkos and Marchessault are great moves, and will improve the offensive output to a team mainly reliant on defense and goaltending. Juuse Saros was also signed long term, and he will again lead the charge from the backend with Roman Josi in front of him. We expect the Predators to secure a top 3 spot in the Central, not without competition of course. However, with the significant moves and upgrades they’ve made, they lead the way from teams with wild card aspirations to a team looking for something bigger.

Vegas took a step back after winning their first Stanley Cup the season prior, but they still managed to sneak in while giving the top seeded Stars major fits in the 1st Round. Over the offseason, however, they lost significant forward depth in Jonathan Marchessault and Chandler Stephenson. The center depth is still intact, but they will need reinforcements to shore up the forward core. Acquiring high end prospect Alexander Holtz helps. He was not able to find a way into the lineup in New Jersey, so good chance going to Vegas will boost his career forward. Fortunately for the Knights, the defense is still elite, and Adin Hill is still around in net. We expect Vegas to be buying more reinforcements for forward later in the year, and they will always be a threat to make a playoff run. With how weak the Pacific Division is, this team seems destined to finish top 3.

Carolina had heavy cup aspirations a year ago, and they were also a heavy favorite to win it all, and yet they still failed despite the good analytics. That might of been the Canes best chance to win it. Coming into this season, they will be without both Jake Guenztel and Brett Pesce, who left in FA. Carolina still has a very strong foundation, but losing Pesce deals a significant blow to their highly touted defense. The best they could do replacing Guentzel was signing Jack Roslovic for a year. Their usual impact forwards are still here, but the lack of depth is starting to show with Kotkaniemi possibly taking the reins at 2C and Roslovic being relied upon as a top 6 option. It is fortunate they get to play in the Metro Division, otherwise they be more at risk of falling. A top 3 finish in the division is very likely for the Canes this season.

After three straight years of appearances in the Cup Final, the Lightning have fallen flat the past couple of seasons. Something needed to change, and Tampa agreed. Franchise stalwart Steven Stamkos was left unsigned, and to replace him comes in Jake Guentzel, who is more than capable of matching his goal production. They will miss Sergachev greatly, however, after he was traded to Utah. In return they at least get another defender in J.J. Moser and some young forward depth in Conor Geekie. Ryan McDonagh comes back to Tampa, but it is questionable how much he has left in the tank. As long as Tampa has Nikita Kucherov, they will always be a playoff threat, and their power play will still be among the best in the league. It is up to Vasilevskiy to fill the void on defense and for the Lightning to maintain elite offense to have any chance to make another real playoff push

Colorado will still be as dangerous as ever, but their ceiling likely will not be reached until later in the season. Several key players are on IR, the leading figure being captain Gabirel Landeskog, who has not played since they won the Stanley Cup in 2022. Val Nichushkin will also be out long term due to a six month suspension by the Player Assistance Program. Artturi Lehkonen will be out week-to-week to begin the season on top of all that. In the meantime, the Avs still have the talent to keep afloat, especially on defense. Nathan MacKinnon will make sure the team will be in a playoff spot, but they need to add to the forward core in order to reach their full potential. Colorado should be higher in the rankings by the end of the year, but as of right now they are nowhere near full strength to be considered any higher on the list.

After many years of mediocrity, the Canucks finally made big strides last season, winning the Pacific Division and taking the eventual West champions to the brink. The problem with the team last season was a lack of stars on Pettersson’s line, and it showed during the playoffs. Despite losing Elias Lindholm to FA, they added DeBrusk, Heinen, and Sprong, who are all fairly underrated for the roles they play. Top prospect Jonathan Lekkerimaki should also appear later in the season. We suspect the Canucks to be major players at the deadline in order to fill the rest of the holes on the roster. The season may hinder on Thatcher Demko, who unfortunately may have to play with an injury for the rest of his career. If Arturs Silovs can maintain his excellent form from the playoffs, they will be in good company. We predict Vancouver to be roughly where they finished last season, and they will again be aspiring for the Stanley Cup.

It is the same narratives and questions surrounding the Leafs every year. Is this the year they finally win? They fail so consistently that it is forgivable to believe they will be yet another first round exit. The best analysis we can provide for Toronto is that they will still be an elite team. Adding Chris Tanev will be a huge short term boost for the defense, and Ekman-Larsson should slot in decently. Now, all we can do is see how Justin Woll plays out in net, and if they have the fortitude to make a deep playoff run for the first time in decades.

Everything that could go wrong did go wrong for the Devils last season. Following their breakout 2022-23 season, we expected a legit cup contender, but injuries and goalie troubles dashed any hopes for a rebound. Coming into this season fully healthy and upgrading on defense and goaltending, they should rocket back up the standings and compete for the Cup. Brett Pesce is especially huge for the defense, who lacked a true defensive stalwart to stabilize the group. The forward core is still a top unit in the league, led by Jack Hughes who was a monster to start the season before getting injured. New Jersey will also look for Timo Meier to find his scoring touch after he began rebounding later last season. This team is elite all around, and will be a dangerous team to face in the playoffs, given bad luck does not befall them again.

Coming off their first Cup appearance in the McDavid era, the Oilers look to push for another chance at winning. Their forwards need no introduction, they will be the top scoring team in the league in all likelihood. The power play is as vaunted as ever, and their PK was historically good in the playoffs, and they look to repeat that during the season. The weakness for the Oilers remains the same, their blueline depth is straight awful. Bouchard and Ekholm will still be an elite first pair, but losing Broberg to the Blues will hurt big time. The best replacement they could find is Ty Emberson from San Jose. Stuart Skinner showed he was capable of carrying the load when he is needed the most, so it is possible he can cover up for the shallow defense. Edmonton will be a top team in the league, and should make another deep run in the playoffs. Whether they can make the Stanley Cup again is up to debate.

We here at the Lobos Power Hour have been big critics of the Rangers in recent years, but it is hard to deny that they are a top team. The Rangers special teams are still elite, and that helps make up for the subpar even strength play, along with goalie Igor Shesterkin and defenseman Adam Fox. New York managed a deep playoff run after a first round exit at the hands of the Devils the season prior, and looked dominant doing so. The Eastern Conference Finals proved they are not quite at the top of the Eastern echelon, and still have to plug up holes to be a more well rounded team. While the Rangers will likely be elite again, we worry about how their reliance on Shesterkin and special teams may come back to haunt them again.

Coming off back to back conference final losses, the Stars hope to finally break through this season. They lost Joe Pavelski to retirement, and let Tanev walk in FA. Even still, they have fantastic offensive depth and more young stars emerging. Logan Stankoven looked incredibly during the playoff run, and he will be seeing his first full year in the NHL. Wyatt Johnston hopes to build off a breakout season, and will be playing alongside Hintz and Robertson in one of the better 1st lines in the league. The team will look to Jake Oettinger remaining consistent, and for the blueline to hold up without Tanev. Heiskanen and Harley will be a dynamo pair, but the rest of the defense may be questionable compared to last season. Overall, the Stars still boast most of the talent that brought them to the conference final last season, and the young stars only look to be even better than they already were. We expect Dallas to be a bonafide Cup contender, as well as a contender for the Presidents’ Trophy.

The Panthers look to defend their first Stanley Cup championship, so naturally they would appear as the number one team in our power rankings. They have lost out on some decent talent in Tarasenko, Ekman-Larsson, and Montour, but the core players are still here. Sam Reinhart was signed after his career best season, and that helps shore up the Panthers top 6 as among the league’s best. The only notable buy from this summer was in former Columbus defenseman Adam Boqvist, who was once highly touted. Considering how Ekman-Larsson looked vastly improved with the Panthers, there is reason to believe Boqvist could be a solid defenseman. Bobrovsky is still the guy in net, and will look to build upon his Vezina finalist season (mostly) dominant playoff. Florida is still the team to beat across the league, although the fatigue from those back to back Cup appearances may take a toll on them this season. The Panthers will have to shore up some of the talent they lost if they wish to have another chance at repeating.