NHL
NHL Preseason
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Good morning, hockey friends. One week into NHL training camps, some of us are already tired of preseason hockey — including Nikita Zadorov, who made a nice Irish exit the other night after scoring the game-winning goal.
Which NHL teams are going to be bad in 2025-26?
These ones … at least, according to our crack team of NHL season preview writers (Shayna Goldman, Sean Gentille and Dom Luszczyszyn).
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The Athletic’s projected standings, in reverse order:
32. Chicago Blackhawks
31. San Jose Sharks
30. Pittsburgh Penguins
29. Seattle Kraken
28. Nashville Predators
27. Philadelphia Flyers
26. Boston Bruins
25. Calgary Flames
24. Anaheim Ducks
23. New York Islanders
Click the individual teams above for full previews and explanation for our ranking. Or read the whole list and methodology here.
While it’s no surprise to see Chicago and San Jose at the bottom given the state of their tear-down rebuilds, what stands out is they’re projected to be very close — within a handful of points, in some cases — to the pack. Their young casts are starting to improve and the long-term road for both organizations looks far more certain than the other flailing teams around them.
We’re releasing a set of previews every day until next Friday, when we’ll reveal our projected (soon-to-be-cursed) Presidents’ Trophy winners. Today’s fresh-out-of-the-oven previews include the Columbus Blue Jackets (21st), Vancouver Canucks (20th) and Buffalo Sabres (19th).
Pulling together 32 season previews every year is a massive undertaking. I saw Gentille on a video call the other day, and he looked sort of like Tom Hanks in “Castaway” after he lost the volleyball.
I didn’t ask, but I’m pretty sure it was because he’s been locked in a room for weeks typing 7,000 words a day about things like the Blue Jackets’ third D-pair options. (Jake Christiansen has arrived!)
The upside of the whole exercise, however, is our three preview writers have gained a very good appreciation for how the upcoming season could play out. With 14 previews published to date, I asked all three what their biggest takeaways are from digging into the NHL’s projected underperformers.
• Dom says: “The biggest surprise so far is definitely Buffalo (projected to finish surprisingly close to the playoffs in 19th). It seems like everyone in the world is (rightly) out on a franchise that annually disappoints, so it’s funny that this is the year where the numbers are actually on Buffalo’s side. I think everyone has been burned one too many times by this exact franchise over the last few years, but hey, maybe this actually is the year the Sabres finally break through. The post-hype breakout.”
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• Shayna says: “For me, the biggest surprise is seeing how much one bad season can completely derail a team’s trajectory. The Predators and Canucks were both projected to reach the playoffs last year but had outright disastrous seasons. I thought the big picture of the last couple of years would give them some grace, but nope: Disappointing so much last year may have crushed both of their postseason hopes again this season.”
• Sean says: “I’m always taken aback by how many teams are stuck in neutral. We can look at the Detroit Red Wings, for example, and know it intuitively, but the preview-writing process kind of lays it plain. I just don’t see how that team (along with a dozen others) is supposed to be good enough or bad enough. Mediocrity eeeeeeverywhere.”
Now there’s a slogan the NHL can put on the ice across the league this season.
This question might be too far in the weeds, and if that’s the case, I apologize in advance. But because this is newsletter trivia for diehards, here goes nothing: Nine notable veterans are on professional tryouts in NHL training camps right now.
How many of the following players’ current teams can you name?
(Hint: Six are with playoff teams.)
Bonus: Which one of them had 40 or more points last season?
Not dialed into the hockey news cycle just yet? Red Light 🚨 can help. Here are some of our top stories from the past seven days you may have missed.
🏒 Which four teams could bounce back and make the 2026 playoffs? Harman “B.G.” Dayal knows and fills us in here.
🪣 What’s that rumbling sound? Wait – it’s LeBrun and his LebRumblings, back for another season. In this edition: Sabres, Capitals, Avs, pending UFAs … and more.
🏜 Our guy Joe Smith took a little trip to Salt Lake City to spend time with Utah owner Ryan Smith and detail his Mammoth plans for hockey in the Beehive State.
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🤔 As the acquitted Hockey Canada players’ NHL return nears, how will Carter Hart and company be embraced by their new teams?
🥷 We attempted to pull together a list of ways NHL GMs might be able to break the new playoff salary cap. If you have more ideas for cap chicanery, hit them with us here.
I had the pleasure to catch up with an old friend, Hockey Hall of Fame writer Eric Duhatschek, last night to raise a glass here in Toronto. Eric retired last fall after nearly 50 years in the business and hasn’t been actively writing since then.
With his 70th birthday around the corner, he seems to be fully embracing retiree life, as he no longer even checks his phone all that often. “One of the best parts of retirement,” he says.
I thought it would be fun to ask Eric about what he’s looking forward to the most this season, now that he’s out of the profession and just a very well-educated hockey fan (and fantasy player):
• The Olympics. “I covered from Nagano (in 1998) to the three gold medals Canada won in 2002, 2010 and 2014. The fact that they’re back, Connor McDavid’s finally going to get a chance to represent Canada, all these young stars that are dominating in the NHL are going to get a chance to play in an Olympics. It’s been so long that I think the anticipation is building and that’s going to overshadow pretty much everything that happens in the first half of the NHL season.”
• The Canadian teams’ drama. “Because I’ve had a relationship with Brad Treliving for a long time, I’m very interested in seeing what’s next for the Leafs. The teams in Alberta, too. Can Edmonton win? Can Calgary turn the corner? Is Dustin Wolf going to be the next coming of Mike Vernon?”
• The rising young stars. “I want to see where Connor Bedard goes, and I want to see how far Macklin Celebrini goes. I watch San Jose a lot. Last year, I spent a lot of time in California. And Anaheim is also way better than you think. It’ll be interesting to see what the impact of Joel Quenneville behind the bench has on that team. Leo Carlsson’s going to be a star – I look at him, and I see hints of Mario Lemieux. The size and the strength and the skill. It’s not going to happen this year, but you can just see the growth potential there.”
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It was terrific to see Eric, and he reiterated his appreciation for all of the support he received from readers here at The Athletic over the seven years he was here.
Here are the PTOers of note this year, per the NHL. How many of these did you know off the top of your head?
Bonus answer: Grzelcyk surprised with 40 points last season in Pittsburgh.
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(Top photo: Ethan Miller / Getty Images)
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James Mirtle is a senior writer covering the NHL for The Athletic. James joined The Athletic as the inaugural editor in Canada in 2016 and served as senior managing editor of The Athletic NHL for four years. Previously, he spent 12 years as a sportswriter with The Globe and Mail. A native of Kamloops, B.C., he appears regularly on Sportsnet 590 The Fan and other radio stations across Canada. Follow James on Twitter @mirtle
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