My Way Too Early Power Rankings for the 2024-2025 NHL Season (32-21)

 32. Anaheim Ducks

Notable Additions:

Jansen Harkins

Brian Dumoulin

Robby Fabbri

Notable Losses:

Jakub Silfverberg - Retired

Dark Horse - Leo Carlsson/Olen Zellweger

It’s looking like another rough season is ahead for the Anaheim Ducks. After finishing third last in the NHL last season, the few changes to the roster for this season will not help propel this team to victories. Although they have some very promising young talent, they are likely looking at a long season. The Ducks have some solid veterans that should be able to help some of their young guns take off. Olen Zellweger was called up near the end of last season, and showed some promise. At only 5’9, his skating and craftiness allows him to dominate in the offensive zone with finesse. With his size, he will need to work on playing solid defense as I’d be worried about his ability to clear the front of his own net.

I think it is time for the Ducks to finally move on from John Gibson. Gibson has 3 more years left with a $6.4 AAV. His contract includes a 10 team no trade clause, which gives the Ducks plenty of flexibility regarding which team they could send him off to. The Ducks last made the playoffs in the 2017-2018 season and since then, Gibson has been put behind poor teams which have really deflated his stats. John Gibson is still an elite goaltender who, put behind a contending roster could potentially help carry a team through the playoffs.

31. Columbus Blue Jackets

Notable Additions: N/A

Notable Losses

Alexander Texier (Traded to STL)

Dark Horse - Kirill Marchenko

The Blue Jackets finished 4th last in the league last year and I fear it will be another year at the bottom for this team. Dean Evason will be a welcome addition to this Blue Jackets team. His experience and ability to bring a team together may be exactly what this team needs to get things going. Johnny Gaudreau has had an underwhelming start to his Blue Jackets career, posting 134 points in 161 games, and he is looking to turn it around under yet another new head coach. Adam Fantilli will look to build on a promising rookie season in which he only played in 49 games. Kirill Marchenko showed that he is a consistent NHL goal scorer last season, posting 23 tallies, looking to improve yet again. 

30. Montreal Canadiens

Notable Additions: N/A

Notable Losses: N/A

Dark Horse - Lane Hutson

The Montreal Canadiens finished in the bottom 5 of the NHL standings last season and I see a slight decline coming this season. WIth other teams that finished near the bottom making multiple free agent signings, the Canadiens will likely be looking at another lottery pick for the upcoming season. There is some upside as they locked up their former first overall pick Juraj Slafkovsky for 8 years. At the rate in which he performed last season, this may end up looking like a bargain at the tail end of the contract. Kaiden Guhle was also signed for 6 years so it seems the Habs have found a few young players with a bright future to build around. Fans should also be excited to see more of Lane Hutson. The silky smooth skating offensive defenceman was called up for 2 games last season where he tallied 2 assists. HIs offensive awareness and ability to maneuver in the offensive zone is fun to watch, and Habs fans should be happy to see him play with the team for this season.

 

29. San Jose Sharks

Notable Additions: 

Jake Walman

Barclay Goodrow

Ty Dellandrea

Carl Grundstrom

Tyler Toffoli

Alex Wennberg

Macklin Celebrini

Will Smith

Notable Losses

Alex Barabanov (Signed in KHL)

Dark Horse- Will Smith

The Sharks finished dead last in the NHL last season, but got rewarded with the first overall pick in Macklin Celebrini. The future is very promising for this young Sharks team, especially with the signings of Celebrini and Smith. Both have amazing collegiate hockey stats and it will be a fun team to watch, regardless of the outcome. I haven’t even mentioned William Eklund who has tremendous talent and will be heading into his sophomore campaign. Adding players like Toffoli and Wennberg should give the two newest young Sharks some additional talent to learn from. This season may be rough, but Sharks fans and hockey fans in general should be excited to see the potential from some of these young guns.

28. Chicago Blackhawks

Notable additions:

Ilya Mikheyev

TJ Brodie

Tyler Bertuzzi

Alec Martinez

Pat Maroon

Teuvo Teravainen

Notable Losses:

Nikita Zaitsev (Signed in KHL)

Taylor Raddysh (Signed with WAS)

Dark Horse - Frank Nazar

The Blackhawks finished second last in the NHL last season and I can definitely see a slight improvement based on some of the free agent signings alone. They added many players who have fallen off slightly from their prime, but can still provide solid play to this roster, as well as veteran leadership for the young talent on this team. Connor Bedard will only improve on his monster rookie season, and the extension of Alex Vlasic must be promising for Blackhawks fans, as it seems like it will be a bright future for this team. Look out for Frank Nazar this year. He only appeared in 3 games last year but notched his first career goal. From his days with the University of Michigan I’ve found that he is very creative with the puck and solid in the offensive and defensive end, which is important for someone of his size at only 5 '10.

27. Calgary Flames

Notable Additions:

Anthony Mantha

Ryan Lomberg

Jake Bean

Notable Losses:

Oliver Kylington (Signed with COL)

Dark Horse - Matt Coronato

The Flames are clearly in their rebuilding stage. They traded away Jakob Markstrom in June and after a poor performance last season, it won’t get any better in the near future. Jonathan Huberdeau has had an incredibly difficult beginning to his Flames career and I really hope he can find a way to turn it around. The Flames have some promising young talent in Connor Zary, Jakob Pelletier and Dustin Wolf, but this team has a long way to go before seeing a playoff spot again. Matt Coronato had a disappointing 34 NHL games last season, only putting up 9 points. However, he scored 42 points in 41 AHL games, a league that traditionally has a lot less scoring than the NHL. He is an extremely talented offensive player and if given the minutes and linemates this season, I can see him finding his own and putting up over 40 points.

26. Utah Hockey Club

Notable Additions:

Mikhail Sergachev

John Marino

Notable Losses:

JJ Moser (Traded to TBL)

Connor Geekie (Traded to TBL)

Dark Horse - Connor Ingram

The Utah Hockey Club will be a fun team to watch in their home arena this season, as I'm sure the crowd will be packed every game. Utah did bring in a monster defenceman in Sergachev, however this team still does not have the depth to have a competitive season in the NHL. A lot of teams that were on the brink of playoffs last season improved moving into this year, and although Utah did acquire Sergachev, the bottom 6 forward group will not bring enough to keep this team alive. I am interested to see how Connor Ingram does this year. Last year he had a breakout season with a .907 save percentage and 6 shutouts. If Ingram can repeat and/or improve on his last year, Utah may be looking at their goalie of the future.

25. Philadelphia Flyers

Notable Additions:
Matvei Michkov

Notable Losses:
Cam Atkinson (Signed with TBL)

Carter Hart ( :/)

Dark Horse - Ivan Fedotov

The Flyers would be lower on this list if John Tortorella hadn’t almost gotten this team into the playoffs last season. Torts won’t take anything but your very best, and given the right group he can get a lot out of his players. Although the Flyers were only 4 points out of a playoff spot last season, they did not do anything to get better this offseason, minus signing Michkov, who MIGHT bring a certain electric goal scoring ability, but with his off-ice attitude conferns, who knows how well he will mesh with Torts. I am excited to see the 6 '8 Fedotov man the crease this season. He put up stellar numbers in the KHL and it is always fun to see a goalie of his size in the league.

24. Buffalo Sabres

Notable Additions:
Jason Zucker

Sam Lafferty

James Reimer

Ryan Mcleod

Notable Losses:

Jeff Skinner ( Signed with EDM)

Matthew Savoie (Traded for Mcleod)

Tyson Jost (Signed with CAR)

Victor Olofsson (Signed with VGK)

Zemgus Girgensons (Signed with TBL)

Dark Horse - Jack Quinn

I feel for you Sabres fans. This team looks decent on paper, but why won’t the Sabres make a bigger splash in Free Agency? Trade one of their 4 SOLID defenseman to bolster the offence? Why sign Ukko Pekka Luukkonen to a 5 year contract and sign James Reimer when you have Devon Levi entering the league? I would love to see the Sabres make the playoffs again, as the last time it happened, I was 10 years old. The fans deserve better. They have some very exciting players in Tage Thompson, Dylan Cozens, and Rasmus Dahlin. Jack Quinn is another player that can be overshadowed by some of these bigger names, and I don’t think it is a stretch to see Quinn popping off for upwards of 60 points this year if he can stay healthy. I could do a much longer, in-depth breakdown of the Sabres, as there is so much more to discuss, so leave a comment if you’d like to see that, but until then, I apologize Sabres fans, but it will likely be another year of disappointment for you.

23. Minnesota Wild

Notable Additions: 

Yakov Trenin

Jakub Lauko

Notable Losses: N/A

Dark Horse - Marco Rossi

The Wild might be the most meh team on this list for me going into this season. They definitely have some talent, with Kaprizov and Faber but the lack of depth both offensively and defensively will hurt the Wild this season. The Central division got even stronger this year and the Wild won’t have enough to hold their own against some of these teams. Marco Rossi put up 40 points last season and I have had my eye on him even before he got drafted. Let’s not forget that Rossi registered 120 points in 59 games before being drafted, and if given the minutes, I think he could open some eyes.

22. Ottawa Senators

Notable Additions:

Linus Ullmark

Michael Amadio

Nick Jensen

David Perron

Noah Gregor

Notable Losses: Joonas Korpisalo (Traded to BOS)

Mark Kastelic (Traded to BOS)

Jakob Chychrun (Traded to WAS)

Erik Brannstrom (Signed with COL)

Dark Horse - Jacob Bernard-Docker

The Sens have had a rough past few years, looking competitive on paper and collapsing early on in the season. Some of these offseason moves confused me, as they traded Chychrun, yet brought in a former Vezina winning goalie. David Perron has proven to be valuable wherever he plays, but will he be enough to help bring this team to the playoffs? I really hope Josh Norris can stay healthy, as I think he has the potential to explode for 70+ points. Additionally, Jacob Bernard-Docker who was exciting to watch in the World Juniors, had a mediocre season last year. Potentially with more minutes he could really find his own this year and become a solid top 4 defenceman. The Sens have to compete with a STACKED Atlantic division, and I just cannot see this team beating out one of the 5 very solid teams this year.

21. St Louis Blues

Notable Additions:

Alexandre Texier

Pierre-Oliver Joseph

Mathieu Joseph

Radek Faksa

Ryan Suter

Notable Losses: Sammy Blais (UFA)

Jakub Vrana (PTO with WAS)

Dark Horse - Joel Hofer

The Blues came close to the playoffs last year. Robert Thomas really stepped up and proved himself, and I'm expecting another strong year from him again. With that being said, this team on paper looks solid but compared to the rest of the teams in the Western Conference, I can see the Blues struggling. We are getting to our point in the rankings where these teams may be competitive, but might just be missing out and that's kind of what I expect from the Blues. I will say that I think the Blues should start looking to giving the net to Joel Hofer who had a .914 save percentage in 30 games last season. Jordan Binnington had a solid year, but I think the Blues could really focus on developing Hofer, and if they are out of a playoff spot at the deadline, potentially move on from Binnington to bring in some assets for the future.