Who Are the Top 8 Teams in the NHL at the Olympic Break? Part 2

In part one, the Pittsburgh Penguins, Minnesota Wild, Buffalo Sabres, and Montreal Canadiens earned their spots as teams Nos. 5-8 in the top eight rankings.

Part two is what one would call “the usuals.” The top four teams here are the current favorites to win the Stanley Cup. All four have experience making it to at least the Conference Finals in recent years and have consistently been top-eight teams through the past few seasons.

4. Dallas Stars

The Stars have been the Western Conference runner-ups for three straight years. They lost to Tampa in the 2020 Stanley Cup Finals. This year may finally be their year.

As usual, the Stars are ridiculously deep, with Mikko Rantanen leading the way offensively this year. It’s fun to think about how much of a monster the Avalanche would be if they had not made the foolish decision to trade Rantanen last year, but that’s not the reality we live in.

They dealt him thinking they wouldn’t be able to re-sign him in the offseason, only for the NHL to increase the salary cap a week later.

Karma could not have made itself more clear when Rantanen and the Stars crossed paths with the Colorado Avalanche in the first round of the playoffs last year. Rantanen led the series in points and stuck the dagger in his ex with a Game 7 hat-trick.

The saying goes, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” and Rantanen has been nothing less than a treasure for the Stars. He leads the team with 69 points and is not afraid to use his 6-foot-4 frame, accumulating 27 blocks and 38 hits.

Beyond Rantanen

The Stars have the third-most points in the Western Conference standings, and are currently riding a six-game winning streak. Miro Heiskanen continues to be an elite defender, and Wyatt Johnston leads the league in power-play goals with 18. That leaves the question of the Stars’ weakness: believe it or not, it’s their goaltender, Jake Oettinger.

While Oettinger has a reputation for being a reliable goalie, he currently holds the lowest save percentage of his career so far. His inability to show up in Conference Finals matchups with the Vegas Golden Knights and Edmonton Oilers in prior seasons has cost them. The Stars may be unstoppable if he can turn that around.

3. Carolina Hurricanes

Year after year, the Hurricanes’ pace and defensive aggression have made them one of the most feared teams in the NHL. While they haven’t made a Stanley Cup Finals appearance lately, they keep coming back, hoping that eventually, they can punch their way through.

Nikolaj Ehlers has proven himself as a significant acquisition this season, putting up 43 points so far this season. In the top line, Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov have been dominant as per usual.

What really jumps out about the Canes is the amount of high-danger scoring chances they’re able to generate on offense and limit on defense. The league averages for high-danger scoring chances generated and allowed are both 435. The Canes have generated 521 and allowed 397.

In addition, Brandon Bussi has been a big-time upgrade in the net with a 90.6% save percentage this season. Frederik Andersen and Pyotr Kochetkov have just not been enough to get the job done in prior seasons. Bussi may be what the Canes have needed to get to the next level.

2. Colorado Avalanche

Ask anyone two months ago, and the Avs are certainly atop this list. They dominated to end 2025, going on two 10-game winning streaks, with the second ending in early 2026.

Nathan MacKinnon is having a legendary season, leading the league in goals (40), plus-minus (48), even-strength goals (32), and shots on goal (244). Defenseman Cale Makar would be the best offensive player on some teams, putting up 57 points already. The Avs somehow lead the league in both goals for (211) and goals against (133).

And yes, if Colorado still had Mikko Rantanen, they’d most likely be number one and even scarier. But Martin Necas and Brock Nelson have been more than serviceable as replacements in the post-Rantanen era.

The Avs have smashed through opponents with alarmingly large blowouts. They lead the league standings in points and lead in goal differential by a wide margin despite being tied for the fewest games played so far.

What’s Wrong?

The Avalanche, who have been a top-eight power play every season going all the way back to 2021, have been incompetent with the man-advantage this year. They have the worst power-play in hockey, converting at 15.1% rate.

On the flip side, they’ve allowed nine short-handed goals. And while the Avs have looked like an absolute machine earlier this season, the team’s 4-5-1 record in the last 10 games speaks volumes.

1. Tampa Bay Lightning

The Lightning, like the Avalanche, have won 37 of 55 games. They’ve just lost a few more games in regulation instead of overtime. Despite lagging the Avs in the league standings by five points, a loss is a loss, and no one should see the Lightning as inferior.

While the Avs are trending downward, the Lightning are trending up. They’ve won eight of their last 10, including the last five games. One of those games was a Stadium Series game against the Bruins, where the Bolts made their largest comeback in franchise history.

They overcame a four-goal deficit against the Bruins despite starting center Brayden Point being out entirely and Anthony Cirelli leaving the game early. They took advantage of power plays and five-on-three advantages and showed what it means never to give up.

Furthermore, the Lightning have championship experience, having gone back-to-back with many of their current players in 2020 and 2021. Nikita Kucherov leads the league with 62 assists. Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy is in the race for a Vezina Trophy this year, boasting a league-leading 2.11 goals against average and 21.6 goals saved above average.

Whether it’s star play, special teams, or depth, the Lightning have it all. The Jon Cooper era dynasty will go down as one of the greatest in hockey history.

Tampa has consistently been great over the past 12.5 seasons, with very few weak stretches. There’s still a lot of hockey left this season, so the Lightning must play hard if they want to add another banner. But one thing is for certain: this dynasty is far from done.

On The Outside Looking In

While only eight teams made the cut, don’t get it twisted: there are teams on the outside that will almost definitely make a run at the Stanley Cup. In particular, the three teams that have competed in the Stanley Cup Finals in the past three seasons are the Florida Panthers, Vegas Golden Knights, and the Edmonton Oilers. All three teams are known for late-season/early-playoff surges.

The Panthers have played the whole season without captain Aleksander Barkov, and most of the season without star winger Matthew Tkachuk. On top of that, Tomas Nosek, Jonah Gadjovich, Dmitry Kulikov, and Seth Jones are all on the injured reserve (IR).

All six aforementioned players were on the championship roster last year. So while the Panthers own the third-worst record in the East, expect them to rise into the playoff hunt.

Last year, they won the Stanley Cup as the third-seed in the Atlantic Division. The rest of the East better hope that the Panthers don’t fight their way into the playoffs this year.

In 2024, the Knights used the long-term injured reserve (LTIR) loophole to acquire Noah Hanifin, Tomas Hertl, and Anthony Mantha at the trade deadline. Additionally, they kept captain Mark Stone out until the playoffs.

Of course, Stone was back for Game 1 of the playoffs, and the Knights almost took out the West’s first-place Dallas Stars in the first round as the second wild-card team. The trade deadline isn’t for almost another month, and only Vegas GM Kelly McCrimmon knows what the front office there is capable of.

The Oilers hired Kris Knoblauch in 2024 to save their season, going from one of the NHL’s worst records to almost pulling off a comeback from down 3-0 in the Stanley Cup Finals. They overcame another slow start last season to make it back to the Finals.

With this in mind, it’s easy to imagine a reality where they can replicate this success.

The post Who Are the Top 8 Teams in the NHL at the Olympic Break? Part 2 appeared first on The Lead.

Who Are the Top 8 Teams in the NHL at the Olympic Break? Part 2

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