Biggest question facing each NHL Eastern Conference team ahead of training camp

Training camp for all NHL teams will open later in September. No team will enter the 2025-26 season without questions, so here's the biggest one facing each team in the Eastern Conference. (Western Conference questions are here.)

Boston Bruins: How much of a role did injuries play in last season's collapse? Charlie McAvoy missed 32 games and Hampus Lindholm missed 65, significantly harming the blue line. Boston may not be a playoff team, but it should be much improved with both expected to start the season healthy. 

Buffalo Sabres: Are they good enough down the middle? Buffalo moved Tage Thompson to the wing and traded center Dylan Cozens to Ottawa for oft-injured center Josh Norris. Ryan McLeod signed a new four-year, $5M AAV deal following a career-best 53-point season, but he's typically more of a third-line center. 

Carolina Hurricanes: Is the goaltending good enough? It's a big question asked about Carolina seemingly every summer, but it's the most important one as you get deeper into the playoffs. Approaching 36, Frederik Andersen appeared in only 22 regular-season games last season and struggled in the Eastern Conference Finals with just an .838 save percentage.

Columbus Blue Jackets: How much can the young guys be counted on? Columbus got a career year out of defenseman Zach Werenski and hot goaltending during the final weeks of the season from young backup Jet Greaves and still couldn't make the playoffs. It'll need all that and another step forward for under-25 forwards Adam Fantilli (20), Kent Johnson (22), Cole Sillinger (22) and Dmitri Voronkov (24) for the playoffs to be realistic. 

Detroit Red Wings: Can the depth veterans perform? Detroit hasn't gotten enough out of veteran forwards Andrew Copp and J.T. Compher. Compher, in particular, got pummeled in the high-danger chance battles. The Wings only had 41.2 percent of the high-danger chances with Compher on ice, according to Natural Stat Trick.

Florida Panthers: How much will they get from Matthew Tkachuk? It doesn't seem as if Tkachuk (torn adductor muscle and a sports hernia injury) will play for the rest of 2025. That's probably not a dealbreaker for the Panthers, who would rather have a healthy Tkachuk in the spring than fall. But the extent of his surgeries should at least leave Florida wondering how quickly it will take Tkachuk to ramp back up this season. 

Montreal Canadiens: Can they tighten up enough on defense to become a true contender? The rebuild ended the second they traded for defenseman Noah Dobson. The question now is whether that's enough to help a team that has historically struggled to defend the high-danger areas under coach Martin St. Louis, finishing 30th in the NHL last season in high-danger chances against per 60 minutes, according to Natural Stat Trick. 

New Jersey Devils: What can the Devils do as insurance for Jack Hughes? Their star centerman has missed 77 games over the past four regular seasons, averaging 19.25 games lost per season. The Devils are 16-22-2 in the past two seasons without Hughes. He's a special player, but the Devils need a better insurance option when Hughes inevitably misses time.

New York Islanders: What's the plan for No. 1 overall pick Matthew Schaefer? Unless he gets injured or looks overwhelmed in training camp, Schaefer will at least get a nine-game tryout with the Islanders. At that point, a determination can be made on whether Schaefer should return to the Ontario Hockey League or continue with the Islanders. The nine-game sample can be a bit of a mirage, and the Islanders must decide if the 2025 No. 1 overall pick needs more seasoning at a lower level after an injury-riddled campaign limited him to just 17 games for the Erie Otters last season. 

New York Rangers: Is Gavrikov-Fox the answer? There may not be a team in the East with more questions than the Rangers. One of the biggest questions will center on newly acquired defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov. He was the best defender on the best defensive team (L.A. Kings) in hockey last season, and the Rangers signed him to a seven-year deal worth $7M annually to help bolster one of the league's worst five-on-five defenses. Teaming him with Adam Fox could potentially give Fox a chance at another run at the Norris Trophy.  

Ottawa Senators: Is this core good enough? Ottawa hasn't really had the same level of fanfare as the Canadiens, but for all intents and purposes, its rebuild is over. This group must take another step after last season's first-round loss.

Philadelphia Flyers: How big of an impact can Rick Tocchet have? The Flyers are not quite a mess, but they are messy in the wake of replacing John Tortorella with Tocchet behind the bench. They have maybe the worst goaltending in the NHL, questions down the middle because of the injury history of Sean Couturier, the inconsistent play of Trevor Zegras and a defense lacking in top-end talent. 

Pittsburgh Penguins: Is this a fire sale or a garage sale? The Penguins seem likely to deal anything not nailed down, excluding captain Sidney Crosby. They have plenty of short-term rental options to sell in-season, but all eyes will be on center Evgeni Malkin and wingers Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell. 

Tampa Bay Lightning: Has the core group ossified? Tampa Bay looked like a legitimate Cup contender heading into the playoffs, particularly against what appeared to be an unhealthy Florida team in the first round. But the Lightning appeared victims of the old rope-a-dope strategy in boxing, going out meekly in five games. They made no real changes, standing pat with the acquisitions they made at the trade deadline.

Toronto Maple Leafs: How many players does it take to fill the Mitch Marner void? The Leafs added three forwards (Matias Maccelli, Nicolas Roy and Dakota Joshua) and signed power forward Matthew Knies to a six-year extension. That's the plan, it seems, to replace the NHL's fifth-leading scorer last season. 

Washington Capitals: How much is actually left in the tank? For all the talk about Washington's young pieces, they still relied in critical areas on Alex Ovechkin (39), Nic Dowd (35), John Carlson (35) and Trevor van Riemsdyk (34). The Capitals have the pieces to support older forwards, but it's hard to hide aging defenders. Carlson and van Riemsdyk were excellent last season, but they have logged a lot of miles already for a team that's going to be counting on them to log a ton more this season.