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The offseason is here, and one of the most crucial things to know going into it is how each team stands on a position-by-position basis. Today, we look at each team’s winger depth with regard to what they already have and what they need this summer. We looked at centers on Monday.
Using Net Rating as a starting point, we looked at how much value each team is currently carrying on the wings to figure out what holes they need to address. The stronger a team looks up the lineup, the better their baseline looks.
After adding a subjective touch to the rankings, here’s how each team’s depth ranks from best to worst before the offseason begins.
Current quality: 99th percentile
Looking for: Depth winger
In terms of winger depth, we’ve got no notes for the Lightning. Nikita Kucherov is the best in the world, and beyond him, the Lightning have Jake Guentzel and Brandon Hagel as star-level talents. The addition of Oliver Bjorkstrand and Yanni Gourde helped solidify the top nine as well.
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A decent winger for the fourth line is all that’s really needed here.
Current quality: 92nd percentile
Looking for: Top-six winger
Depth on the wing is one of the strengths of the back-to-back Stanley Cup champions, led by two superstars in Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Reinhart. With those two at the top, it’s hard to go wrong, but the Panthers also look good beyond them — even with a Brad Marchand-sized hole.
Ideally, the Panthers would continue to flaunt their depth with a capable top-six replacement, but they can do just fine without one.
It helps to have Mackie Samoskevich in the fold. He was sparingly used during the playoffs, but flashed a ton of promise during the season. Fun fact: While Samoskevich is not eligible for an offer sheet, he’s the top comparable this season for 2023-24 Dylan Holloway.
Current quality: 93rd percentile
Looking for: None
There are two primary reasons that the Blues shopping Jordan Kyrou, unlikely as it may be after the best all-around season of his career, can’t be immediately dismissed. The first: His no-movement clause kicks in on July 1, so if Doug Armstrong (entering his last season as Blues GM) would ever want to move him, the time would be now. The second: He’s the Blues’ best winger, but they have plenty of talent behind him.
Pavel Buchnevich remains a solid first-liner. Holloway looked like a two-way star before his season ended in April. Jimmy Snuggerud, at 21, scored twice in his first seven NHL games after a great career at Minnesota. Zack Bolduc took off in his first full NHL season, scoring 19 goals in 56 games after Jim Montgomery took over as coach. Assuming Kyrou stays atop the heap, St. Louis projects to have one of the very best groups in the NHL.
Current quality: 91st percentile
Looking for: Top-six winger
The Wild, once again, are in a solid position thanks to Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy. The former is an MVP-caliber talent, while the latter is a no-doubt, high-end first-liner. Only Tampa Bay (Kucherov and Guentzel) and Florida (Tkachuk and Reinhart) have a top two with more projected value — and it’s not by much.
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What pushes Minnesota a bit farther down the list, though, is a lack of contender-quality options elsewhere. Mats Zuccarello is still productive enough and works well on Kaprizov’s line, but he’ll be 38 on opening night. Behind him are players such as Ryan Hartman, Marcus Foligno and Marcus Johansson, who are worth having in the lineup but not on a second line. The issue is also exacerbated by Minnesota’s ongoing issues with solidifying its situation down the middle, leaving them with a talented but top-heavy forward group.
Current quality: 87th percentile
Looking for: None
The big question with Colorado’s winger depth is how good Gabriel Landeskog can be over a full season and playoffs.
He didn’t look like he missed much of a step at all in his glorious return during the playoffs, and he paced for a plus-11.5 Net Rating. Funny enough, an age curve applied to his final season in 2021-22 would suggest that Landeskog would still be a plus-10.9 player for 2025-26. That’s a bona fide first-liner, substantially beefing up Colorado’s top six along with a stacked group featuring Valeri Nichushkin, Martin Necas, and Artturi Lehkonen.
It’s that depth that should give Landeskog the support to be at his best. Even if he’s just average, Colorado still has a top-10 winger situation on its hands. It’s a high bar to clear, but with a healthy and productive Landeskog, the upside is obvious.
Current quality: 84th percentile
Looking for: Top-line winger
While Carolina arguably has a bigger need at center, it sure wouldn’t hurt to stack the deck on the wings to make things easier. It makes a ton of sense for the Hurricanes, a team hungry for a superstar, to be targeting Mitch Marner (and Nikolaj Ehlers) given they do have a need for a top-line winger.
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That’s mostly based on some uncertainty around Andrei Svechnikov, who hasn’t been himself since suffering a knee injury two years ago. While Svechnikov looked a lot better in the playoffs, it wouldn’t hurt to add a star above him in the pecking order just in case.
Best case scenario: Two stars! Worst case scenario: Svechnikov is slotted appropriately to what could be his new normal.
It’s no secret that we’re Svechnikov believers around here, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. For a team firmly in its contention window, good enough — as the Hurricanes’ sixth-place ranking here suggests — is no longer good enough. It’s time to go big or go home.
Current quality: 83rd percentile
Looking for: Top-six winger
Until Logan Cooley takes a leap, the Mammoth’s power is on the wings. Clayton Keller was top-20 in Net Rating last season, sandwiched between Jake Guentzel and Jack Hughes. Behind him are Dylan Guenther, who in his second NHL season scored as many goals per 60 (1.36) as Mikko Rantanen, and Nick Schmaltz, who had his fourth straight season with 58 points or more.
After those three, there’s a bit of a hole. Is Josh Doan capable of consistently contributing in a middle six? He probably deserves a shot, and he’s almost certainly Utah’s best bet. Beyond that is a solid group of bottom-sixers who could help put Utah squarely in the wild-card conversation if some other things break their way.
Current quality: 78th percentile
Looking for: Depth winger
The one quibble with the Kings is the same one we had with the centers: is there a star here? While it’s a lot closer with Adrian Kempe’s ascension, it’s worth pointing out that every team above the Kings has a winger with a plus-10 Net Rating or higher. Kempe is juuuust on the cusp of that, with Kevin Fiala also not far behind.
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Combine that with the depth behind them, and the Kings are in a good spot, with only a depth winger really needed. They aren’t, however, in a great spot. A lack of star power has been the team’s demise over four straight losses to the Oilers and until someone really steps up, that will likely only continue. The Kings being linked to Marner is no shock.
Current quality: 64th percentile
Looking for: Middle-six wingers
The Stars added financial flexibility with the Mason Marchment trade and retained a major piece by signing Matt Duchene. Check and check. They still have some work to do, though, and some of it is along the wings.
Jamie Benn, assuming he returns to Dallas, would take care of a decent-sized chunk, slotting in somewhere behind Mikko Rantanen and Jason Robertson and pushing the Stars more comfortably into the top 10. One of the questions for Dallas, though, is who rounds out the third line, especially with Marchment out of the picture. Their needs aren’t glaring, but the puzzle isn’t yet complete, either.
Current quality: 66th percentile
Looking for: Top-line winger, depth winger
One of the main forces behind Columbus’ impressively competitive 2024-25 was Kirill Marchenko. For a third straight season, his goal total went up (21 to 23 to 31), and he added some improved playmaking to the mix, too. The end result was 74 points in 79 games, a top-20 Net Rating among forwards and a projected rating for 2025-26 just a tick behind players such as Filip Forsberg and Mark Stone. He’s terrific. He also needs help.
Columbus’ best bet on the current roster is Kent Johnson, who seemed to find his stride down the stretch in his third NHL season. Boone Jenner, assuming he stays healthy, would be another option, though he may fit best back at center. What’s much more likely, though, is that Columbus uses some of that $40 million in cap space to improve its scoring lines via outside options.
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Current quality: 60th percentile
Looking for: High-end winger
Buffalo’s wingers look all set at the moment with a fairly deep top nine. Here’s the problem: the Sabres’ best winger is Alex Tuch. Yeah, that won’t cut it.
In that vein, it makes sense that JJ Peterka (and Bowen Byram) are available as a potential way to raise Buffalo’s ceiling. The Sabres have enough Peterka-caliber wingers in the lineup as is. What they need is an absolute game-changer at the top, and the trade route might be the best way to make it happen.
Current quality: 55th percentile
Looking for: Top-line winger, middle-six winger
One of the Senators’ primary concerns should be finding a long(ish)-term fit with Brady Tkachuk and Tim Stützle on the top line. Is Fabian Zetterlund the guy? The three-year, $4.275 AAV contract he just signed suggests he could get a chance. Five points in 26 games after arriving via trade with San Jose is rough, but Zetterlund has gotten off to slow starts elsewhere.
Ottawa also needs a middle-six capable left winger to play with Drake Batherson. David Perron, at this stage of his career, isn’t the guy, and Ridly Greig projects as a bottom-sixer. Claude Giroux, obviously, would add something to the entire mix, but his return isn’t guaranteed. The Sens have talent. They’ve also got needs.
Current quality: 54th percentile
Looking for: Top-line winger
Filip Forsberg is on an island at the top of the lineup. Not only does Nashville not have a top-line center for Forsberg to play with, the Predators also don’t have a top-line-caliber winger either. Neither Steven Stamkos or Jonathan Marchessault will likely fit that bill next season.
That trio is solid enough, and the Predators have decent bottom-six depth. But the team’s lack of high-end talent is glaring. Forsberg can’t do it alone.
Current quality: 53rd percentile
Looking for: Top-six winger
The Jets were powered last season in part by a group of productive and/or useful wingers, and most are returning to the fold. Leading the way are Kyle Connor, an elite sniper and legit first-liner, and Gabe Vilardi, projected to add more value than players like Kevin Fiala and Martin Necas. That makes the Jets’ task for the summer easy to understand but a little more difficult to execute: they need to either re-sign Nikolaj Ehlers or replace him.
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Winnipeg’s center depth chart, even with Jonathan Toews, makes that even more crucial — their offense needs to come from somewhere. Ehlers, a reliable 20-goal scorer and play-driver on the top six, would be one of the best UFAs to hit the market on July 1. The Athletic’s Murat Ates reported Friday that the expectation is for Ehlers to find a fit elsewhere, but the door back to Winnipeg is not shut.
Current quality: 48th percentile
Looking for: High-end winger, depth winger
The Capitals have the NHL’s all-time leading goal-scorer on their first line. That certainly still counts for something, but Alex Ovechkin’s overall game has dipped, leaving them with a fairly glaring hole at the top of their winger group. They’ve got plenty of valuable players there, but not the sort of truly high-end pieces you’d expect from a legit contender, especially if Connor McMichael shifts to center.
A repeat performance from Tom Wilson, though, could help solve that problem. Wilson, two years removed from ACL surgery, is coming off the best season of his career (65 points in 81 games). More of that would help raise Washington’s offensive ceiling. Washington could also use another depth winger, especially if Andrew Mangiapane signs elsewhere.
Current quality: 53rd percentile
Looking for: High-end winger, top-nine winger
Philadelphia’s only real need here is to subtract Nicolas Deslauriers, who is probably no longer NHL-caliber, and find someone to solidify the top nine. As is, the Flyers actually have a pretty strong stable of wingers, an organizational strength led by Matvei Michkov and Travis Konecny. But even Tyson Foerster and Owen Tippett look like solid top-six guys, too.
As good as it is, there’s still the question of whether it’s enough at the top. Konecny and Michkov are great players, but they’re not quite elite. Konecny’s play-driving metrics have taken a step back, while Michkov’s defensive game is still a work in progress.
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The skill is there for those two to be the bedrock of Philadelphia’s forward group, but the team does still need both to take another step forward next season and beyond.
Current quality: 48th percentile
Looking for: Top-six wingers
It’s a bit odd that the Oilers decided to invest so much money and term into Trent Frederic, especially as the team’s first priority this offseason. He’s a guy who is probably going to be a decent third-liner at best — and a fourth-liner at worst if he can’t recover from an ankle injury. That’s not a need that Edmonton had. The Oilers need more wingers for Leon Draisaitl, not Adam Henrique. Two of them, to be frank.
Viktor Arvidsson and Jeff Skinner were supposed to be that, and neither worked as expected. Evander Kane feels iffy in that role, and that’s if they even decide to keep him. All three (with Skinner likely walking as a UFA) are third-line caliber. It would be a lot more helpful if Draisaitl had some players to actually work with and not more third-line grinders. Especially if they cost $4 million for the next eight years.
Given Edmonton’s cap crunch, it’s hard to see how the team will fill those holes.
Current quality: 39th percentile
Looking for: Top-six winger, top-nine winger
For posterity’s sake, adding a player such as Mitch Marner — not necessarily him, just one identical to him — would take Vegas’ winger group to the cusp of the top five. That’s worth noting.
In the meantime, for a contender, we’re talking about a fairly thin group. Mark Stone remains a legit first-liner, Pavel Dorofeyev’s 35-goal breakout was a necessary bit of good fortune and Ivan Barbashev works as a running mate for Jack Eichel, but the Golden Knights will need to add if they want to stay at the top of the Western Conference conversation.
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Current quality: 36th percentile
Looking for: Top six-winger, top-nine winger
Jesper Bratt and Timo Meier are both top-line caliber. Each of them stepped up from a production standpoint after Jack Hughes’ injury, and they give New Jersey a strong foundation along the top six.
Still, another piece or two seems like a necessity. Stefen Noesen and Dawson Mercer are useful enough (though the latter is coming off a brutal 2024-25) but playing both on the top six isn’t ideal. Also, Ondrej Palat is carrying a fourth-line projection into the season. For a 34-year-old with a $6 million AAV through 2027, that’s a bad sign. Another is the continued presence of Kurtis MacDermid. The Devils are a lot closer to average with just an average fourth-liner in his place.
Current quality: 38th percentile
Looking for: Top-six winger, top-nine winger
Even with Mika Zibanejad shifting to wing, the Rangers are still one top-six winger short of what’s needed to get back to the playoffs. It’s possible Zibanejad bounces back, Alexis Lafrenière finally proves himself and Will Cuylle takes a step forward, but it would be better to add to that rather than hope for it. As-is, the team’s top six needs some help.
On top of that, it’s the same usual problem for the Rangers: the bottom six also needs some help. Depth has long been a struggle for the Rangers as the team continues to trot out ineffective players lower in the lineup. It’s possible some internal pieces can shore things up, but it’s imperative that the Rangers not enter the season with two fourth lines. Again.
Current quality: 37th percentile
Looking for: Top-line wingers
You can basically cut and paste what we said about Seattle’s situation at center. It’d all make more sense if you shifted everyone down a line. These aren’t necessarily ineffective players we’re talking about — they’re overextended players. And having that many guys in over their heads is not any sort of recipe for success.
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Mason Marchment, acquired from Dallas, gives them a solid second-line option and should add some punch down the lineup. Overall, though, moving out of mediocrity takes a certain amount of scoring, and it’s still too difficult to find that in the Kraken lineup.
Current quality: 36th percentile
Looking for: High-end winger, top-six winger
The Canadiens have the pieces necessary. Now we wait.
Between Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovsky and Ivan Demidov, Montreal looks to have a promising future on the wing. But that still means realizing potential, and for now the trio is lacking next to playoff teams with a longer resume.
Ideally, all three of those wingers turn into top-line talents to give Montreal the kind of advantage contenders enjoy. But even just two would suffice as long as one becomes a true star. Until that happens, the Canadiens will likely still struggle a bit.
On top of that, it would also be helpful for Montreal to add one more piece to the top six to support that group. Patrik Laine is fine, but is probably closer to a sheltered scorer on a contender. A solid play-driver would really help round things out and push Montreal closer to the top of this list.
Current quality: 33rd percentile
Looking for: Top-six wingers, top-nine winger
The Red Wings are pretty set at the top of the lineup with Lucas Raymond and Alex DeBrincat, both true top-line talents. Raymond especially took a big step last season and looks like the kind of star a team needs to make some noise in the playoffs.
It’s after those two where there are concerns. Detroit is an entire second line short on wingers and arguably one top-nine winger short on top of that. Even if Vladimir Tarasenko and Michael Rasmussen were the team’s third-line options, the team would still probably want an upgrade on that. Right now, they’re in the team’s top six.
Detroit badly needs an upgrade here. Will it come internally as some prospects graduate, or will the Red Wings need to dip into free agency once again to solve their problems?
Current quality: 25th percentile
Looking for: Top-line winger, top-six winger, top-nine winger
Without Mitch Marner, the Maple Leafs have only half of a top nine.
William Nylander is a star player, Matthew Knies is a low-end first-line talent and Bobby McMann is a solid third-line winger. Everyone else on the roster does not fill well into the top nine. Maybe Nick Robertson can finally become that and maybe Easton Cowan can surprise as a rookie. But the larger likelihood is that the Leafs need a lot of help on the wing with one of everything.
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Marner’s likely departure arguably makes that a blessing in disguise. Because even with Marner, the Leafs would not have a complete top nine. They’d still be missing a top-six and top-nine winger, and Marner’s new salary would make it very difficult to fill those holes. With just Marner, the Leafs would only move up to the 72nd percentile on this list (though the presence of Ryan Reaves is partly to blame for that as well).
As long as the Leafs do it right, there’s a path to be better by being deeper. With the prices going around for free agents, however, that may be much easier said than done.
Current quality: 27th percentile
Looking for: Top-line winger, top-nine wingers
For the Bruins, everything starts with David Pastrnak. Among wingers, only Kucherov and Kaprizov are projected to add more value to their teams than him (plus-19.6), and fourth place isn’t particularly close. He’s a superstar and a franchise guy.
Unfortunately for Boston, as far as high-end pieces are concerned, everything ends with Pastrnak, too. So it goes when you decide to send out Brad Marchand. If the Bruins want to move back up the table, they’re going to have to find some way to replace a chunk of his contributions.
Beyond that, Morgan Geekie and Pavel Zacha are top-nine players. Then things get dodgy in a hurry. Generally, the Bruins could use some more capable third-liners, or some in-house options establishing themselves as legit options. If none of that happens, they could be in for another long season.
Current quality: 35th percentile
Looking for: High-end winger, top-line winger
The Flames, like Seattle, basically need an entire top line. We talked about it in the center rankings, and we’re talking about it again.
Jonathan Huberdeau, Matthew Coronato, Blake Coleman and Connor Zary are all useful players, but none of them project as anywhere close to a first-liner. Huberdeau comes closest, but even he’d slot best as a No. 3 option — think Mats Zucarello. Without a relatively major addition to the forward group (or three), Calgary will almost certainly struggle to stay in the wild-card conversation.
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Current quality: 25th percentile
Looking for: High-end winger, top-six wingers
The Penguins’ problems at wing are twofold. Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell are still plenty solid, and Rakell is coming off the best season of his career. Neither are true first-liners, though. Contenders, or even fringe playoff teams, have more talent at the top of their lineup.
The bigger issue, though, is that Pittsburgh has nothing in the way of proven talent behind them. Tommy Novak is as close as they’ve got, and in terms of projected value, he’s a fourth-liner. The Penguins have high hopes for prospects Rutger McGroary and Ville Koivunen, but neither has any sort of track record. It might be time for Pittsburgh to figure out what they can do. For that matter, it might be time to shop Rust and Rakell, too.
Current quality: 23rd percentile
Looking for: Top-line wingers
What you’re about to see from the next group of teams is a similar problem: They have a good enough group of bottom-nine wingers, but they don’t have legit stars to place them in the appropriate role.
The Canucks are at the top of that pecking order, mainly due to the strength of Conor Garland and Jake DeBrusk, both stronger options than the top wingers from the Kraken, Islanders, Ducks and Blackhawks. That being the company the Canucks share, though, is a bad omen.
While part of that is the team likely losing Brock Boeser to free agency, he’s closer to Garland and DeBrusk anyway than to what the Canucks actually need. That he’s asking to be paid like a star only makes it an easier decision to say no, even if it means some real short-term pain on the flanks.
Current quality: 15th percentile
Looking for: Top-line wingers
The best teams are generally built down the middle, making it logical to shift Mathew Barzal back there forming a strong 1-2 punch with Bo Horvat. That decision, though, would also leave the Islanders fairly barren on the wings. Anders Lee and Kyle Palmieri are good second-liners, while Simon Holmstrom and Maxim Tsyplakov work in the top nine. But it’s clear the team needs two guys above that group to make the team’s forward group competitive. As it currently stands, everyone is over-slotted.
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Current quality: 14th percentile
Looking for: Top-line wingers
Anaheim deserves some amount of credit for convincing Chris Kreider to join up. Even if he doesn’t bounce all the way back to his pre-2024 form, he’ll add production and professionalism to a young core.
The issue, though, is that the Ducks are still way short on top-line talent. Cutter Gauthier clearly has potential, but even with strides from him, more decent second-line play from Troy Terry and whatever Kreider can bring, the Ducks’ problem won’t change. There are too many low-ceiling players in their group to predict any sort of major move up the standings.
Current quality: 8th percentile
Looking for: Top-line wingers
It’s nice that Ryan Donato decided to re-sign with the Blackhawks, because otherwise the team would’ve had only one actual top-six winger: Teuvo Teräväinen. Even then, both players are merely on the cusp. Chicago is lacking a serious amount of high-end talent and fall two top-line wingers short here. Without them, players such as Tyler Bertuzzi and Ilya Mikheyev will likely be slotted one spot too high on the depth chart.
This team needs a lot of help.
Current quality: 1st percentile
Looking for: Top-line wingers, top-nine wingers
There’s a reason San Jose seems destined to take Michael Misa with the No. 2 pick. For all their talent at center (Macklin Celebrini, presumably Will Smith) and the presence of two solid second-line wingers in William Eklund (who still has room for growth) and Tyler Toffoli, the top-nine depth chart is ugly. Adding a prime prospect such as Misa would help solve the problem, at least in the long term. That part of Mike Grier’s plan is coming to fruition.
In the meantime, San Jose could meaningfully improve simply by adding some stock third-liners to the mix. That’s the benefit of starting from the bottom.
(Top photo of Clayton Keller and Matt Boldy: Matt Krohn / Imagn Images)
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