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NHL Power Rankings: Where Every Team Stands After the 2024 Stanley Cup Final

Lyle Fitzsimmons Featured Columnist III

NHL Power Rankings: Where Every Team Stands After the 2024 Stanley Cup Final

Elsa/ Gentlemen, start your offseasons.
The long, strange trip that was the NHL's 2023-24 regular and postseasons finally came to an end Monday night when the Florida Panthers hoisted the Stanley Cup after a Game 7 defeat of the visiting Edmonton Oilers at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise.
The win snuffed out Edmonton's unlikely rally from an 0-3 hole in the series and triggered a sped-up version of the league's already busy summer, which starts with the annual player entry draft on Friday and Saturday in Las Vegas and ratchets even further next Monday with the onset of unrestricted free agency.
The B/R hockey team used the brief timeout between the chaotic series of events as an opportunity to compile another set of power rankings, with staff members deciding where every team stands in the immediate aftermath of the Cup Final.
Take a look at what we came up with and drop a thought of your own in the comments.

Jonathan Kozub/NHLI via There was already much to do in Columbus, but there's even more now that newly arrived GM Don Waddell has fired coach Pascal Vincent and triggered a search for the franchise's fourth coach since John Tortorella left after the 2020-21 season.

Minas Panagiotakis/ The "new guy behind the bench" theme holds in northern California, too, where Ryan Warsofsky takes over for the Sharks after two inglorious seasons under David Quinn. No coach has left San Jose above .500 since Peter DeBoer was dismissed in 2019.

Debora Robinson/NHLI via There's plenty of work to do on the ice for a team that's not seen the playoffs since 2017-18, but it's all about rebranding for the time being in Anaheim, where initial images of a new logo have been leaked ahead of the franchise's 31st NHL season.

Maksim Konstantinov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via The primary Windy City hockey questions are about which new teenage toy the team is going to acquire to pair with last year's top overall pick, Connor Bedard. The Blackhawks select second this time around and could tap Russian forward Ivan Demidov.

Matthew J. Lee/The Boston Globe via If you're looking for an early favorite to jump into the playoffs after an extended (seven seasons, to be exact) absence, you could do worse than the Senators after they snatched Vezina-winning goalie Linus Ullmark from Boston in exchange for goalie Joonas Korpisalo, forward Mark Kastelic, and the No. 25 pick in this weekend's draft.

David Kirouac/Icon Sportswire via They've not sniffed the playoffs since losing to Tampa Bay in a COVID-addled 2021 championship series, but the Canadiens are neither short on young talent, nor bereft of cap space and imminent draft picks. They'll arrive at the draft with first-rounders at Nos. 5 and 26.

Chris Gardner/ The team formerly known as the Coyotes will go by the "Utah Hockey Club" for its initial season in Salt Lake City and work under the leadership of Chris Armstrong as director of hockey operations after he was plucked from the Wasserman sports/media talent agency.

Len Redkoles/NHLI via New coach Dan Bylsma is handling other matters before taking over full-time with the Kraken, namely trying to secure an AHL championship with Seattle's Coachella Valley affiliate. The Firebirds reached the Calder Cup final for the second straight season under Bylsma.

Ronald Martinez/ Could the Wild be ready to pull the trigger on a deal involving 22-year-old center Marco Rossi, whom they selected ninth overall in 2020? The idea has at least generated some buzz in the early offseason following his 21 goals and 40 points in his first full-time NHL season.

Gerry Thomas/NHLI via The trade that sent Jacob Markstrom to New Jersey for defenseman Kevin Bahl and a first-round pick in 2025 officially signals the start of the Dustin Wolf era in the Calgary net. Wolf had a 3.16 goals-against average and .893 save percentage in his first extended NHL stint.

Len Redkoles/NHLI via Center Morgan Frost has spent parts of five seasons with the Flyers since they drafted him 27th overall in 2017, but that time could be cut short according to Daily Faceoff's Frank Seravalli, who included the 25-year-old on his latest list of the league's top trade targets.

Justin Berl/ It's been a painful few years of irrelevance for Penguins fans, so it's no surprise they're harboring hopes Jake Guentzel could choose to return to the team that traded him at the deadline. The Athletic's Josh Yohe says it's not impossible, but that he'd " be surprised ."

Leah Hennel/ If you believe the Devils were a goalie away from returning to their 2022-23 perch, the deal that brought Jacob Markstrom may have provided it. The Swede, who has two years left on a $6 million annual contract, waived his no-trade clause to facilitate the trade.

Bill Wippert/NHLI via The Buffalo Bills have been one of the NFL's most successful teams for the last several seasons thanks to the emergence of quarterback Josh Allen. New (old) Sabres coach Lindy Ruff is hoping his players can channel some of Allen's " fearless, relentless " nature.

Jeff Vinnick/NHLI via If you're looking for an offseason of headline-worthy transactions, you might be better served looking somewhere other than St. Louis, where Blues GM Doug Armstrong said the first-round pick won't be traded for a current NHL player and no buyouts are imminent.

Dave Sandford/NHLI via Detroit fans are predictably anxious after sitting out every playoff tournament since 2016, but the folks at Detroit Hockey Now aren't crazy about the idea of the Red Wings pursuing Martin Necas, Patrik Laine or Mitch Marner this offseason.

Chris Tanouye/ Count the Islanders as another team on the lists of those mentioned for a possible big-name buyout contract (Jean-Gabriel Pageau) and a possible trade destination for Toronto's Mitch Marner. Such is the offseason case for a team that made the playoffs but was bounced early.

John McCreary/NHLI via The Daily Faceoff's Frank Seravalli suggested the Capitals were in the running to snatch Jake Guentzel as a free agent, but they instead pulled the trigger on a head-scratcher that brought Pierre-Luc Dubois and the seven years remaining on his contract from Los Angeles.

Peter Joneleit/Icon Sportswire via There's still no deal done to keep franchise foundation Steven Stamkos with the Lightning after his contract runs out at the end of this month, which has prompted speculation that he could not only wind up elsewhere—but perhaps across the peninsula with the Panthers.

Jeff Vinnick/NHLI via An 18-game unbeaten streak got the Predators to the playoffs and kick-started excitement for the offseason, which is particularly important because the team has bundles of money to spend and not a huge chasm between it and the elites.

Ben Jackson/NHLI via The Kings got rid of one of the league's least popular contracts and got a Cup-winning goalie in return with the deal that sent Pierre-Luc Dubois to Washington for Darcy Kuemper. They now have better than $23 million in cap space to chase Patrik Laine or another scorer.

Nick Lachance/Toronto Star via The drought's reached 57 years, so it's time for another angst-ridden summer in Toronto, where the Maple Leafs are the subject of daily conjecture about whether they'll break up a highly paid but underachieving core, with particular focus on Mitch Marner.

Jonathan Kozub/NHLI via The retirement of head coach Rick Bowness triggered the predictable buzz of activity related to who'll run the Winnipeg locker room. The Jets hired Scott Arniel to succeed Bowness and added Davis Payne and Dean Chynoweth as assistants.

Josh Lavallee/NHLI via The Hurricanes dipped into the analytics pool and hired ex-blogger and recent consultant Eric Tulsky to be the full-time GM to replace Don Waddell. Tulsky has been in the team's front office for 10 years and started at Broad Street Hockey .

Barry Chin/The Boston Globe via The Bruins set records two seasons ago and were a second-round playoff team in 2023-24, so the window is open. GM Don Sweeney has money to spend to bolster things, which he began doing by acquiring two players and a first-round draft pick from Ottawa for goalie Linus Ullmark, who'd ceded the full-time starter's role to Jeremy Swayman.

Dave Sandford/NHLI via The Golden Knights were the (nearly) undisputed winners at the deadline but got nothing out of it, losing in the first round to Dallas after leading the series 2-0. GM Kelly McCrimmon suggested it may not have been enough time for the parts to jell.

Dave Sandford/NHLI via The Avalanche said goodbye to a member of their 2022 championship team when 17-year NHL veteran Andrew Cogliano announced his retirement. He'll stay with the organization with myriad roles touching player development, scouting and the team's AHL affiliate.

Jeff Vinnick/NHLI via The disappointment of losing a 3-2 series lead to Edmonton will linger, but no team changed its fortunes in 2023-24 more than the Canucks, who went from a playoff miss to first in the Pacific. Fittingly, Rick Tocchet was named the NHL's best coach in being given the Jack Adams Award.

Leila Devlin Similar to the Canucks, the Stars won't soon forget the way their season ended in the playoffs, but there's plenty of reason for optimism. In fact, the numbers folks at DraftKings have them as the favorite for the 2025 Cup, alongside Florida, at +900 .

Peter Joneleit/Icon Sportswire via There's summertime work to be done, for sure, but the afterglow of a Game 7 victory that secured the franchise's first championship figures to last a while. There's better than $20 million in cap space but a big decision to make when it comes to Sam Reinhart, whose 57-goal season was impeccably timed as he approaches a chance at free agency.

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