NHL Power Rankings: How teams stack up heading into training camp

The start of training camp is a signature event on the NHL calendar and talking about how we think teams will fare is a staple of this time of year.

That can mean only one thing: time for the first Sportsnet.ca Power Ranking of the 2026-27 campaign.

This pre-season edition will serve as an appetizer to the weekly ranking we’ll do once the puck drops on the new campaign. To be clear, topping this list is not a synonym for being the Stanley Cup favourite. Obviously, our top club — and two handfuls of teams underneath — have championship hopes, but this ranking reflects how we see the squads stacking up as we hit the ground running in less than two weeks.

Preamble — like the pre-season itself — should be as short as possible, so without further delay, let’s unveil our ranking of all 32 clubs.

1. Colorado Avalanche The Avs — four years removed from the 2022 title — are a scary combination of talented and hungry. Colorado finished first overall last year, then ended the season on a sour note by losing the Western Conference Final in four games to the Vegas Golden Knights. Nathan MacKinnon just turned 31, Cale Makar (battling a minor lower-body injury) has been extended; Nazem Kadri is here for the full season to make the centre depth incredible; and the goalie tandem provides a solid foundation. All that’s left to do is get 41-year-old Brent Burns his ring.

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2. Dallas Stars After three straight trips to the Western Conference Final, the Stars bowed out in the first round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs, and didn’t look particularly great doing so. A long summer reset probably wasn’t the worst thing in the world for this club, which returns a deadly and deep lineup.

3. Washington Capitals It’s fair to have chemistry questions about the Caps, who are incorporating two new top-six wingers into the mix in Jordan Kyrou and Alex Tuch. Still, don’t let a one-year blip of missing the playoffs throw you off; Washington finished second overall in 2024-25 and has a fantastic mix of veteran players supported by really, really good up-and-comers like defenceman Cole Hutson, banging winger Ryan Leonard and the hulking Protas brothers, Aliaksei and Ilya. Underpinning it all is the top-notch goaltending of Logan Thompson, who has finished fourth in Vezina voting in each of the past two seasons. If you’re sleeping on the Capitals, time to wake up.

4. Carolina Hurricanes Truthfully, you could consider ranking the defending champs a little lower on this list when you factor in big-time fatigue and the fact Seth Jarvis is on the shelf for a chunk of the year. Does anybody really expect Carolina to come charging out of the chute? Still, the Canes are one of the safest bets to excel in the league and have gone from wondering what they have to do to get over the hump to knowing they’ve got the stuff to hang a banner.

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