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New NHL Ranking from The Athletic Puts Edmonton Oilers Ahead of Big-Name Rivals

Originally posted on Hockey Latest | By Daniel Lucente | Last updated Aug 7, 2025 11:07 AM ET

The Athletic's Dom Luszczyszyn ranked all NHL teams, comparing their cap efficiency vs. player contracts, and the Oilers top all Western Canadian teams in 8th place.

Each summer, The Athletic's Dom Luszczyszyn breaks down the NHL's contract landscape, analyzing every deal in the league to find out who's spending wisely and who's not.

The goal is to estimate each player's market value over the remainder of their contract, compare it with their actual salary, and grade teams on overall cap efficiency.

'What players have already done holds no merit. This is about the future value of the deal with age effects based on player comps taken into account, while accounting for expected salary growth.'
- Dom Luszczyszyn

The Edmonton Oilers Top All Western Canadian Teams With a Grade of A-

This year, the Edmonton Oilers are 8th in the league overall with a grade of A-, higher than any Western Canadian team.

Edmonton doesn't have any other team with as many A-grade deals as they do, thanks to their top trio of forwards (Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Zach Hyman) and defensemen (Evan Bouchard, Mattias Ekholm, Jake Walman).

Add Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and the Oilers' foundation is generating big surplus value. That productivity is chiefly why they've reached back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals.

The Winnipeg Jets are right behind at 10th overall with a grade of B+. Six-year, $8.5M cap hit for Connor Hellebuyck is a bargain for the MVP of the league, and Josh Morrissey's six-year $6.3M contract is also a bargain for a future Norris contender.

Both are providing value above what the team is spending, allowing Winnipeg to stay competitive to build around its stars.

The Vancouver Canucks are 22nd with a C+ rating. Quinn Hughes was left off the top contract list due to a lack of term alone, yet his contract has nearly $12 million of surplus over for the next two years.

That value, however, is undone by goaltending moves, most notably, Kevin Lankinen's expensive extension, which now appears worse on the heels of Thatcher Demko's new eight-year, $8.5M deal. Goaltending depth is decent, but at $13 million in total, it's an overpayment.

In 23rd place is Calgary, also with a C+ grade. MacKenzie Weegar's deal is one of the league's best, and Dustin Wolf and Matt Coronato are valued as team-friendly deals.

But all that good can't erase the devastation brought by Jonathan Huberdeau's deal, rated worst in the league, and Kevin Bahl's odd extension. Remove those two deals from the picture, and Calgary's situation would be much stronger.

This article first appeared on Hockey Latest and was syndicated with permission.

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