The name of the game at the top of the Western Conference this season is stability.
Quick, without looking: Among the top five teams in the regular season last year — Colorado, Dallas, Minnesota, Vegas and Edmonton — who is the best new addition? Is it … Blake Coleman with the Wild? Jaden Schwartz with the Avalanche?
All five clubs look very similar, though the Oilers have a new coach. Are any of these teams definitely better than they were in mid-April? Probably not. But they all still look like Stanley Cup contenders as training camps open this week.
There are some teams in the West filled with premium young talent. Are any of those clubs ready to challenge the big boys? One might be, but a full-on changing of the guard in the conference is likely still a year or two away.
Tier I: The Contenders
1. Colorado Avalanche (121 points, lost in conference final)
Best move: The numbers were staggering, even in the new financial landscape, but Cale Makar was always going to get a massive deal. And for the 2026-27 team to maximize its chances of winning the Stanley Cup this season, getting this out of the way before the season certainly helps. See: Rantanen, Mikko.
Worst move: Jaden Schwartz should help the Avs this year and at a reasonable cap number, but a few other similar forwards missed out on the July 1 rush and could have been had for cheaper. It’s a nitpick, but it might matter ahead of the trade deadline. And the Avs are going to be even older in 2028 and 2029.
2. Dallas Stars (112 points, lost in first round)
Best move: Jason Robertson is still here, and assuming he’s still on the team in mid-April, the Stars can win the Stanley Cup in 2027.
Worst move: The vibes in Dallas feel very similar to Denver. It’s still a great team, but the depth is whittling away, and some of the key guys are getting older. And a one-year deal for Robertson doesn’t really help the medium-term outlook – although maybe he ends up with a long-term deal and this was just a cap-squeeze hiccup all along.
3. Vegas Golden Knights (95 points, lost in Stanley Cup Final)
Best move: There have been a few of these deals for young, unproven players – $20.4 million for a guy with 26 career points? – but if Braden Bowman could prove to be a very nice find for Vegas in an aisle of the player acquisition store (undrafted free agency) where Colorado also likes to shop.
Worst move: The Knights and Rasmus Andersson clearly wanted each other for a while even before the trade, and a big, long contract was always inevitable. But will he really be worth it? The results were pretty mixed after his arrival.
4. Edmonton Oilers (93 points, lost in first round)
Best move: Getting off the last four years of Darnell Nurse’s contract and adding Ryan Shea at less than half the cap hit was the type of shrewd move a team with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl in their prime needs to make.
Worst move(s): Uh, there are some contenders, but Mike Babcock is an NHL coach again. That’s tough to top. McDavid and Draisaitl have been covering up roster construction issues for years, and likely will need to again.
5. Minnesota Wild (104 points, lost in second round)
Best move: Blake Coleman, at a $2.45 million cap hit, is a nice middle-six forward. He doesn’t fix Minnesota’s center issue, but maybe a step forward for Danila Yurov (or a Dylan Larkin trade) would accomplish that.
Worst move: If Quinn Hughes doesn’t have a new contract on opening night, it’s that. The runner-up would probably be spending $2.75 million on a middle-six forward who couldn’t get in the lineup against the Avs in the playoffs last year (Bobby Brink). Filling those minutes with a cheaper contract and banking the cap space for a better player in February/March would have been better business.
Tier II: Ascending, maybe contenders?
6. Utah Mammoth (92 points, lost in first round)
Best move: Getting two first-round picks for J.J. Peterka after a so-so year in Salt Lake City was good business, but adding Anders Lee on a reasonable three-year contract ($5.4 million) stands out among a series of solid moves for the Mammoth. They’re coming for the Big Three at the top of the Central, and this offseason did not slow their momentum.
Worst move: Sebastian Cossa has had an interesting path since being a first-round pick and considered one of the top goalie prospects in the sport. The potential is still in there, and he might prove to be a deft addition, but the acquisition cost was a bit high.
7. San Jose Sharks (86 points, did not qualify)
Best move(s): Moving back seven spots in the first round to add Michael Kesserling, and then moving back up six spots to grab University of Denver freshman Ryan Lin could be short- and long-term successes for the Sharks’ defense corps.
Worst move(s): Adding Nurse and Jacob Truba will make the Sharks defense corps better this season, and there was plenty of cap space … right now. Committing to four years with both players might be a bit problematic when this franchise is a top Cup contender in the near future.
Tier III: Ascending, maybe, after a nice offseason
8. St. Louis Blues (86 points, did not qualify)
Best move: The Blues basically traded Jordan Kyrou and a late first-round pick for Connor McMichael and Mason McTavish. If McTavish can get back to the way he did business before Joel Quenneville was his coach, this could be remembered as a really nice summer for the Blues.
Worst move: Giving Ross Johnston three years at $2 million per year during the NHL’s early July wave of “we’re paying too much for guys who fight” wasn’t as bad as some of the others, but that extra $500,000 or so would go a lot further as banked cap space if St. Louis can get into contention this year or next.
Tier III: Ascending, probably, but a weird offseason
9. Anaheim Ducks (92 points, lost in second round)
Best move: Matching the Flyers’ five-year-$90 million offer sheet for franchise center Leo Carlsson. Letting it get to that point is arguably the worst decision in what was a pretty rough summer for the Ducks. And they still need to get fellow young star Cutter Gauthier signed. Still, this rebuilding project starts over without Carlsson and would have set the franchise back years.
Worst move(s): No hindsight available, but the Ducks spent a combined $6.1 million in cap space on A.J. Greer and Jeff Malott to be tough guys before the Carlsson offer sheet and now have a defense corps that looks well short of what’s needed to take another step forward this year.
Tier IV: The wild cards
10. Nashville Predators (86 points, did not qualify)
Best move: Poaching the general manager of a division rival and pairing him with a relatively new owner who’s eager to write some checks. That’s not just about the roster, though – the long-term plan looks pretty intriguing. Chris MacFarland has added a bunch of middle-six forwards, but also might have a fire sale coming.
Worst move: Is $4.5 million a year a good deal for a very good No. 4 center on a contending team in the NHL’s new economic world? The Avs couldn’t afford Jack Drury at that price. MacFarland saw that’s probably not a 3C, though maybe he will be during the next phase of this Predators roster?
11. Chicago Blackhawks (72 points, did not qualify)
Best move: Getting Connor Bedard signed for “just” $15 million per year looks pretty nice compared to the Carlsson and Celebrini contracts. That extra $3 million-ish in cap space could matter in a few years.
Worst move: Phew, that is a massive bet on old friend Bowen Byram. A “let’s win sooner” kind of move, but without many corresponding moves beyond bringing Patrick Kane back. The value in Bedard’s deal won’t help nearly as much if Byram proves he’s not a No. 1 guy.
Tier V: Descending, whether they know it or not
12. Los Angeles Kings (90 points, lost in first round)
Best move: Mats Zuccarello’s one-year, $1 million deal with bonuses is really a $6 million pact (he’s getting $5 million after 10 games played), but that does allow the Kings some flexibility about when that bill is due, and Zuccarello can still play.
Worst move(s): Anze Kopitar retired, and the Kings managed to get older. Zuccarello (39 years old), Corey Perry (41), Erik Haula (35) and Erik Gustafsson (34) are all here. This roster looks old and slow and well short at center compared to other West contenders, but maybe Peter Laviolette has one more first-year bump in him.
13. Winnipeg Jets (82 points, did not qualify)
Best move: The Jets are going to need someone like Cole Perfetti to take a big step forward in the next year or two, and if he does it the new five-year, $30 million contract will look like a nice bargain.
Worst move: That said, things are looking bleak in Manitoba, and Connor Hellebuyck’s trade request is probably the end of this era for the Jets. Last season might have been the beginning of the end, but Winnipeg is closer to the bottom of the league than the top without Hellebuyck, or pulling off an unexpectedly great trade for his services.
14. Seattle Kraken (79 points, did not qualify)
Best move: Mackie Samoskevich is a relatively recent first-round pick who didn’t produce more for the Florida Panthers despite more opportunity because of all the injuries. Seattle gave up too much for him, but maybe he’s a solid second-line wing for them. And right now you’re thinking, that doesn’t sound like a “best move.” Well …
Worst move: The general perception externally about the Kraken is basically, ‘uh, what are we doing here, guys?’ Seattle hasn’t really picked a lane since arriving in the NHL. One of the potential young building blocks, Shane Wright, has not developed into an indispensable player and has asked for a trade (but is still here). Three years without a playoff berth and no top-five picks in that span.
Tier VI: Tank City, pop. 2
15. Calgary Flames (77 points, did not qualify)
Best move: A pretty solid draft pick haul for Blake Coleman to keep the teardown moving, plus Jake Middleton is the right kind of veteran to both mentor the kids and not impact the chances of getting another lottery pick.
Worst move: That is a rather large bet on Simon Nemec, both in acquisition cost and contract, and especially when he and Zayne Parekh are both right-shot defensemen. But it’s early days in the Flames rebuild, and just collecting young talent remains the goal.
16. Vancouver Canucks (58 points, did not qualify)
Best move: Getting a first-round pick for Marcus Pettersson showed commitment to a potential rebuild, but the complete overhaul – new coach, new general manager and the Sedin twins as co-presidents of hockey operations is an easy choice. There could be a long road ahead, but this franchise needs a new plan.
Worst move: That’s a big contract for former DU star Zeev Buium, but the talent to make that a bargain in the near future is definitely in there. The answer here is the moves that haven’t happened yet – Filip Hronek, Brock Boeser and Jake DeBrusk should all be on new teams by the trade deadline, and Losing for Landon (DuPont) will be in full effect.
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