Way-too-early top 10 NHL teams headed into 2026-27

The NHL is nearing its 2026-27 season, and there have been so many changes to teams, as always is the case with the league during each summer. Major free-agency signings, trades, and overall developments lead to the construction of a roster and with that, the intrigue of which squads are the best on paper.

Today, we are providing our take for an early top-10 teams in the NHL headed into the 2026-27 season.

1. Carolina Hurricanes

The Stanley Cup Champions should rightfully retain their position as the best of the best. The production that the Taylor Hall, Logan Stankoven, and Jackson Blake trio provided was second to none in chemistry and rounds out the top-heavy first line the Hurricanes boast, which was helped from last year by bringing in Nikolaj Ehlers. Losing Frederik Andersen, who elevated them in between the pipes to the Final, will sting, but they’re remedied by the services of Brandon Bussi and Pyotr Kochetkov.

Of note, Carolina led the NHL in offensive zone time percentage at all even strength (45.5) and on the penalty kill (30.6) last season. They had eight players inside the top 10 in offensive zone time percentage at even strength. Arguably, this team has players that fit almost perfectly into every one of their roles in the lineup.

Alexander Nikishin is the lone defenseman and player to figure out among their contracts for renegotiation, but that should ideally be taken care of, considering the Canes have $9M in cap space to work with to pay their young lefty defenseman.

2. Colorado Avalanche

Aside from donating Jack Drury and Ross Colton to Nashville, who brought in Chris MacFarland as GM, and Valeri Nichushkin to Columbus, this Colorado team remains top-heavy in its talent. The acquisition of Jaden Schwartz brings Stanley Cup pedigree to a forward core that will welcome such. The defense remains solid after an NHL-low 197 goals allowed, re-signing Brett Kulak to a lucrative five-year, $22.5M deal helps keep that core intact.

Specifically, the Avs excelled in perimeter offense, leading the NHL in both midrange goals (104) and long-range goals (32), and all in all, led the NHL in goals per game, averaging 3.63 tallied in 2025-26. When you have Nathan MacKinnon, Martin Necas, Gabriel Landeskog, and the duo of Cale Makar and Devon Toews, these numbers are always possible.

The Woods (Mackenzie Blackwood and Scott Wedgewood) are a formidable goaltending tandem, leading the league in tandem save percentage (.909) as well as boasting some of the best Goals Saved Above Expected from 2025-26, which the Avs are glad to have under contract for another year. 

3. Florida Panthers

Aside from the fact that this team will be gaining everyone back from injury, including Aleksander Barkov, the addition of Brady Tkachuk makes the Panthers top-nine forward group the most dangerous on paper. Eetu Luostarinen is staying long-term as well on an eight-year, $40M contract. He’ll help lead a bottom-six that brought in bruisers like Garnet Hathaway, a former Cup winner in Lars Eller, and a familiar face, and Radko Gudas, on the backend. Florida is all but rejuvenated for Cup contention again.

The return of Aleksander Barkov is crucial to the Cats’ success, as an elite two-way forward, he reached the 90th percentile among forwards in Offensive zone possession time in each of his past four seasons: 2024-25: 48.0 percent (98th percentile), 2023-24: 48.5 percent (99th percentile), 2022-23: 46.3 percent (92nd percentile), 2021-22: 45.5 percent (90th percentile). No doubt his return, as well as the health of many Panthers players will see them compete day-in and day out in the East.

Goaltending remains a question mark, but behind the defense Florida boasts, Jacob Markstrom and Akira Schmid should prove serviceable. It was definitely a bargain to not only take on Markstrom’s $6M AAV but also to trade away Evan Rodrigues in the process.

4. Tampa Bay Lightning

Swap out Darren Raddysh for John Carlson on a two-year deal at the same AAV on the backend; that’s not bad work by the Bolts. Their addition of Carlson adds a player who dominated with 15 high-danger shots on goal, 34 midrange shots on goal, tallying six midrange goals and five long-range goals, all above the 90th percentile. On paper, he adds to one of the most experienced bluelines in the entire NHL, taking into account not only that Carlson is behind J.J. Moser and Erik Cernak on the right side but also Victor Hedman with Ryan McDonagh as their main lefties.

Dangerous as ever, the Lightning struck second in the NHL in high-danger goals (154) in 2025-26. Part of that is thanks to the forward group remaining elite behind the top line of Jake Guentzel, Brayden Point, and Nikita Kucherov, but what of the second line right wing spot next to Anthony Cirelli and Brandon Hagel? Can Gage Goncalves elevate his scoring, or will the Lightning look to Conor Geekie to perhaps round out that top-six forward group?

Oh, and Andrei Vasilevskiy is still a league-best goalie. If that wasn’t obvious already.

5. Dallas Stars

The tires have been kicked on a Jason Robertson long-term extension, but he signed a one-year, $12M deal and is back for 2026-27, as their top scorer. The No. 1 priority has been checked. That helps the Stars forward group remain "Star-studded" alongside Mikko Rantanen, Wyatt Johnston on that top line. Dallas is still great, but will dearly miss the progression of Mavrik Bourque, who they dealt away to Nashville, but perhaps Justin Hryckowian can build off his 30-point campaign from last season.

Despite their heavy power-play reliant scoring, especially in the playoffs (9 out of 15 scored on the postseason man-advantage), the Stars were still a lethal scoring team, leading the entire NHL in high-danger goals (157) for back-to-back years, shooting at a 22.6 high-danger shot percentage. Still a dangerous offensive team, ranking 16th in 5-on-5 goals for, is not too concerning, but balancing your scoring might help in dire situations down the stretch.

The retention of Jamie Benn around league-minimum money, if he can stay as a depth scorer, will be cost-effective for them. The defense backed by Miro Heiskanen is still intimidating with Esa Lindell and Thomas Harley, who signed an eight-year extension back in October of 2025. Their blueline allowed the second-fewest high-danger goals (100). That helped them rank fourth in goal differential (plus-51).

6. Washington Capitals

Alex Ovechkin coming back all but assembled the Avengers in the District of Columbia. Jordan Kyrou is a projected third-line right winger on this roster, Tom Wilson is second, and Alex Tuch, who was gifted $84M for eight years, is set to play on the top line. Tuch was high among scoring in high-danger goals (18), within the 95th percentile of the entire league. Add the plethora of potential this team has in youth, and the addition of former Columbus captain Boone Jenner, and we might be starting at the NHL’s most intriguing forward group.

Logan Thompson‘s goaltending was comparable to a brick wall last season, behind a defense that isn’t even at full health to start the year, with Rasmus Sandin sidelined with an injury. That’s okay, enter college hockey phenom Cole Hutson with a leeway to get a stretch of NHL games and provide offensive creativity in the depth chart.

Really makes you wonder how beneficial buying the former Salary Cap analysis website ‘CapFriendly’ has been for the Caps. A page many hockey fans miss dearly.

7. Montreal Canadiens

A second-line center is the main thing this team is missing. Outside of that, this up-and-coming squad made the Conference Finals last year behind the dominant scoring of Nick Suzuki‘s 100+ points and a 50-goal season out of Cole Caufield. The vibes are high in Montreal, despite a lack of big moves to improve the core, but the Habs are trusting progression out of Ivan Demidov on the last year of his ELC, and Oliver Kapanen is building off his near 40-point rookie season, where 22 of those were goals, third among rookies in 2025-26.

Lane Hutson should ideally continue to grow as the pillar he is in the back-end for Montreal, beginning his eight-year extension at $8.85M AAV. Not only is he a dominant force in possession, averaging a 44.3% offensive zone time percentage, but ten of his goals came from high-danger chances. The Canadiens are running their crease by committee based on who’s rostered, and Jakub Dobes was worthy in front of the Bell Centre’s crowd, but what of Jacob Fowler in a full NHL workload?

Bruising defenseman Arber Xhekaj and formidable depth forward Zachary Bolduc remain unsigned, so we’ll see where the Habs go with $9M in cap space left this summer for those two.

8. Minnesota Wild

Another team that could not address its second-line center need (Dylan Larkin, still in the air?). The Wild will miss Kirill Kaprizov‘s best friend in Mats Zuccarello as well as the production of Vladimir Tarasenko on special teams. Marcus Johansson won’t be back either, and that is a lot of production, 53 of 268 total goals lost from those three players (nearly 20%) that will have to be made up. Projected second-line wingers Bobby Brink and Blake Coleman can try to fill some of that production. A full season of Joel Eriksson Ek dressing will be needed for the Wild as well.

They did extend Michael McCarron, who was well-liked as an add from the trade deadline, and defensively, with Quinn Hughes and Brock Faber together for a full season, it should be fun, considering the two had 52 goals for as a pairing, fourth-most among D-pairs in the entire NHL. Jonas Brodin and Jared Spurgeon, rounding out your top four, need I say more?

Yes, goaltender Filip Gustavsson is sidelined with an injury to start the year, so young phenom Jesper Wallstedt, at 23, has the keys in the driver’s seat. Wallstedt ranked second in the NHL in save percentage with .916 (minimum 25 games) last season, and tied for eighth in 5-on-5 save percentage at .921. Seeing as he took the job late last year, it’ll be key to watch and see how he fares as the main crease guy and what happens with Gustavsson, who makes a substantial $6.8MM AAV.

9. Vegas Golden Knights

The second fiddles to Carolina are in their tenth season as a franchise and yet remain very intimidating. How intimidating is the question? They’re rolling the dice on letting Pavel Dorofeyev go east to the Rangers and Keegan Kolesar, similarly to Detroit. Losses for sure, but being $8M over the cap limit means you’re paying a lot of money to a good crop of talent. So you should be good, right? Up front, Mitch Marner, Jack Eichel and Mark Stone will all be top-producing players, and take into account that William Karlsson is healthy again.

Those guys elevated Vegas to fourth in offensive zone time percentage (42.3 percent) last season and were notably led by the yet-to-be-mentioned Tomas Hertl (47.7), who ranked ninth among forwards and remains clutch as demonstrated this past playoff run. The three previously mentioned Vegas forwards who ranked high in that category, Stone (46.6; 95th percentile), Marner (45.6; 91st percentile), and Eichel (45.2; 88th percentile) also dominated these stats.

Brett Howden makes $2.5M AAV, and despite a 22-point regular season, he scored 14 goals in 21 playoff games. Vegas is hoping that carries into next season as Dorofeyev-lite. Extending Jeremy Lauzon for six years solidifies the bottom of the left side on defense, and behind Shea Theodore is a full season of a newly signed Rasmus Andersson, who, alongside former Flame Noah Hanifin, should be a nice offensive piece.

10. Utah Mammoth

Utah is a team that has done well in its trajectory with its transition from the lowly desert days in Arizona to what they hope can be the mountain peaks in their new home. A first-round playoff exit is an occurrence this core can build on. The Mammoth are growing, Clayton Keller and Nick Schmaltz lead the top line while in their prime. Alongside young star forwards like Logan Cooley, who is developing like a brisket, and Dylan Guenther, whose career-year in scoring, see both molding into their own among the best forwards on the team.

Adding veteran talent like Anders Lee can help in slot scoring, where the Mammoth finished 18th last season. Lee ended up in the 88th percentile or higher in high-danger goals in each season since 2020. Vincent Trocheck from New York, who, during his Rangers tenure (2022-26), was one of two NHL players with above 250 points (253), 700 shots on goal (756), and 700 hits (764); the other? Brady Tkachuk. Both give leadership and experience to the younger players.

Last year, the Mammoth also addressed their back-end in trading for MacKenzie Weegar, which makes a good pairing alongside Mikhail Sergachev. Utah also extended John Marino and should benefit from the high-upside of Dmitriy Simashev, formerly a No. 6 overall draft pick who has fared nicely in the AHL and might prove worthy with his play-killing ability next to whoever they pair him with.