Critics of the Blackhawks’ rebuild as a fundamental concept were quieted last season.
Although the Hawks’ rebuild took only a modest step forward — and it remains unclear whether it ultimately will succeed — it was a good year for their youthful peers around the NHL. The recently rebuilt Canadiens and Ducks made playoff runs, and the almost-done-rebuilding Sharks made a huge leap.
Those three teams became a few of the most exciting in the league, and they should remain compelling this season. Can the Canadiens, for example, establish themselves in the top tier of the Eastern Conference?
Can Leo Carlsson and his crew of suddenly rich young forwards keep the Ducks’ magic going? Can Macklin Celebrini live up to the Connor McDavid-level hype and lift the Sharks into the playoffs?
And can the Hawks join that wave? Internally, they think they’re about to do so. Proofs of concept, showing it can happen in this era, now exist. But analytics models, betting lines and talking heads are skeptical.
On the other end of the age spectrum, a handful of teams — including the Panthers, Rangers, Penguins, Predators, Jets and Kings — enter this season relying on over-the-hump cores to keep them competitive.
For the Hawks, Ducks, Sharks and Canadiens to make further inroads into the hierarchy, they’ll need those aging teams to crash out. And it feels as though they might.
Here are my bold predictions for the 2026-27 NHL standings:
Central Division
1. Wild (114 points): Quinn Hughes will sign a lengthy contract, win the Norris Trophy and not only help the Wild surge to the top of the Central’s three-headed monster but also win the Presidents’ Trophy.
2. Stars (110): Jason Robertson’s looming free agency is concerning, but the balanced Stars will remain contenders for at least one more season.
3. Avalanche (105): The Avalanche learned they need to expend less energy during the regular season. After coasting until April, they’ll turn it on and bowl through the league in the playoffs.
4. Mammoth (94): The up-and-coming Mammoth seem more likely to finish fourth in the Central than any other team is to finish in any given spot in its division. That’s exactly what will happen.
5. Blues (91): The Blues will turn out better than last season but worse than in 2024-25, leading to a narrow playoff miss.
6. Blackhawks (85): The Hawks’ internal playoff ambitions feel unlikely to be fulfilled, but their youth (and close-game luck) will improve enough to get them out of the league basement and maintain the fan base’s tentative long-term optimism.
7. Jets (81): Goalie Connor Hellebuyck’s departure will be felt dramatically, on and off the ice. He has covered up flaws in Winnipeg for a while.
8. Predators (74): It will become clear the Predators’ second-half push last season was a mirage once they careen off the age cliff this season.
Led by Mark Stone (right) and Jack Eichel (left), the Golden Knights should be a top team again this season.
Ethan Miller/Getty Images
Pacific Division
1. Golden Knights (113 points): The Knights’ strange 2025-26 regular-season malaise is a thing of the past. This loaded roster lived up to its potential during the playoffs and will continue doing so this season.
2. Sharks (98): The Sharks will play a ton of high-scoring games, and they’ll win the majority. Celebrini is a superstar, and the entire forward group is impressive.
3. Oilers (97): The hiring of Mike Babcock as their coach might blow up in the Oilers’ face. If it doesn’t, they’ll be at least slightly better — in perhaps their last gasp with McDavid — than they were last season.
4. Ducks (93): Even with a bottom-five defensive unit and fewer late-game comebacks, Carlsson, Cutter Gauthier and Beckett Sennecke will carry them back to the playoffs.
5. Kings (87): The Kings will continue sliding slowly downhill. Quinton Byfield’s inability to reach his potential has left them woefully weak at center in the wake of Anze Kopitar’s retirement.
6. Kraken (69): The Pacific’s three worst teams are clearly the NHL’s three worst teams. The Kraken’s roster features nothing interesting. A bolder prediction: Their attendance finally will dip.
7. Canucks (65): The Canucks will trade Elias Pettersson and Jake DeBrusk, bottom out and get some lottery luck to land the No. 1 pick in June.
8. Flames (59): Goalie Dustin Wolf will be a bright spot, but everything else will be painful for the Flames, who might start following the Hawks’ path next season.
Atlantic Division
1. Lightning (109 points): Which previously unknown players will coach Jon Cooper develop into difference-makers this season? There will be some, adding support around the established stars and helping the Lightning finally make another deep playoff run.
2. Canadiens (106): With an awesome core of players at every position, their ascent will continue this season. With those core players locked up for the long term on below-market-value deals, they’ll add depth next summer and enter 2027-28 as Stanley Cup favorites.
3. Panthers (103): The reloaded Panthers will bounce back in a major (albeit unsurprising) way, but they surprisingly won’t win their first-round playoff series.
4. Sabres (98): It’ll turn out the Sabres have more than enough young firepower to overcome the departures of Alex Tuch and Bowen Byram.
5. Senators (95): With better goaltending and better locker-room vibes than last season, the Senators will survive the brutally competitive Atlantic and grab the last wild-card spot.
6. Bruins (92): The Bruins would be a decent playoff bet in the West, but they won’t make it in the East — especially once Morgan Geekie’s long-awaited regression leaves David Pastrnak on an island offensively.
7. Maple Leafs (88): The Leafs aren’t bad, but they soon will discover Gavin McKenna isn’t an instant savior and Darren Raddysh’s voodoo was geo-restricted to Tampa.
8. Red Wings (82): The Wings will finish last, as expected, in this ridiculous division, so here’s a bolder prediction: Dylan Larkin will stay in Detroit, but Alex DeBrincat will get traded.
Alex DeBrincat’s expiring contract represents another problem for the struggling Red Wings.
Ethan Miller/Getty Images
Metropolitan Division
1. Hurricanes (114 points): The defending Stanley Cup champions return almost their entire roster, and a trade for Hellebuyck will make them even scarier.
2. Capitals (110): A Vezina Trophy-winning performance by Logan Thompson will make the Capitals, who have retooled smarter than anyone in recent years, an elite team.
3. Devils (93): Luke Evangelista, Anthony Mantha and Evan Rodrigues are three underrated summer additions who will help the Devils sneak back into the playoffs.
4. Flyers (90): Porter Martone won’t live up to sky-high expectations, leaving the decent but star-lacking Flyers a bit short of a playoff return.
5. Islanders (89): Matthew Schaefer will live up to sky-high expectations, but his heroics alone won’t be enough to rescue an Islanders team otherwise lacking difference-makers.
6. Rangers (85): The Rangers’ reconstructed defense will fare well. But their forward group will be one of the worst in the league, with Pavel Dorofeyev failing to replace Artemi Panarin adequately.
7. Blue Jackets (84): Undercurrents of cultural problems will bubble up and stir up drama, undermining a solid roster.
8. Penguins (83): After overachieving last season, the Penguins will underachieve this season as their extremely old core hits a wall.
Playoff results
East Final: Lightning over Capitals.
West Final: Avalanche over Golden Knights.
Stanley Cup Final: Avalanche over Lightning.