Залуу тоглогчдын бүрэлдэхүүн болон багуудын ирээдүйн чадавхид суурилан NHL-ийн 2030-31 оны улирлын дүр төрхийг урьдчилан таамаглалаа.
Сан-Хосе Шаркс баг Маклин Селлерини, Уилл Смит, Майкл Миса зэрэг өндөр ур чадвартай залуу тоглогчид болон хаалгач Ярослав Аскаров нарын хүчирхэг бүрэлдэхүүнээрээ лигийг тэргүүлэх боломжтой байна. Монреаль Канадиенс багийн хувьд Иван Демидов, Ник Сузуки, Коул Кофилд тэргүүтэй залуучууд ирэх арван жилд тооны давуу байдлыг бүрэн хянах чадвартай бол Юта Маммот, Баффало Сэйбрс багууд өөрсдийн бүрэлдэхүүнийг чанаржуулснаар тогтмол өрсөлдөхүйц түвшинд хүрчээ.
Торонто Мэйпл Лифс баг Остон Мэттьюс болон 2026 оны драфтын тэргүүн сонголт Гэвин Маккенна нарын хослолоор довтолгооны шугамаа хүчирхэгжүүлж байна. Харин Анахайм Дакс баг Лео Карлссон, Каттер Готье зэрэг залуу оддын тусламжтайгаар Өрнөд бүсэд томоохон аюул заналхийлэл болж эхэллээ. Флорида Пантерс, Каролина Харрикейнз багууд туршлага болон залуу хүчний тэнцвэрийг хадгалан амжилтаа үргэлжлүүлэх төлөвтэй байна.
Колорадо Эвеланш багийн хувьд Натан Маккиннон, Кэйл Макар нарын оргил үе удахгүй дуусаж, залуу тоглогчдын нөөц хомс байгаа нь ирээдүйд хүндрэл учруулж болзошгүй. Эдмонтон Ойлерс баг Коннор Макдэвид, Леон Драйзайтль нарын ур чадвараар өрсөлдөх чадвараа хадгалж байгаа ч довтолгооны хоёр дахь эгнээний дутагдалтай байна. Ванкувер Кэнакс баг бүрэн шинэчлэлт хийж байгаа тул дахин өрсөлдөхүйц болох хүртэл таваас арван жилийн хугацаа шаардагдаж мэдэх юм.
Дэлгэрэнгүйг эх сурвалжаас харах
↓Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
Today, I project what the NHL standings could look like in five seasons. This assessment is mostly based on a team’s young roster core combined with their current roster strength. For the sake of this exercise, I’m assuming that each team will keep every player currently on their roster under 35, even though I realize that certainly won’t happen.
1. San Jose Sharks
The Sharks’ young core is quite elite. Macklin Celebrini is a premier player with the potential to be a perennial Selke and Hart contender. Combine him with the dynamic playmaking of Will Smith and Ivar Stenberg, the elite transitional play of Michael Misa and high-end defensemen in Sam Dickinson and Keaton Verhoeff, and you have an embarrassment of riches. With Yaroslav Askarov and Joshua Ravensbergen anchoring the crease, San Jose has a core you can see developing into a dominant winner.
The Sharks have the NHL’s best prospect pipeline
Corey Pronman and Max Bultman
2. Montreal Canadiens
Montreal’s rebuild has yielded a dynamic crop of young talent. Between Ivan Demidov, Lane Hutson, Nick Suzuki, Juraj Slafkovský and Cole Caufield, the Canadiens’ power play should run circles around teams for a decade. Over time, their depth should fill out between the likes of Michael Hage, David Reinbacher and Alexander Zharovsky breaking through. In a few years, they could be one of the league’s elite teams.
3. Utah Mammoth
Utah has a great core of both top-end veterans and top prospects. Logan Cooley and Dylan Guenther are already establishing themselves as drivers while also having several premium young assets in forwards Caleb Desnoyers and Tij Iginla and defenseman Dmitri Simashev. When it all comes together, and it could very soon, this could be a team that contends regularly.
4. Buffalo Sabres
Rasmus Dahlin, Owen Power, Mattias Samuelsson and Daxon Rudolph should form one of the very best blue lines in the league. Up front, Zach Benson, Josh Norris, Tage Thompson, Noah Östlund, Jack Quinn and others should pose a serious threat in the Eastern Conference.
5. Toronto Maple Leafs
Auston Matthews will still be a highly productive, elite goal scorer into his early 30s. But what completely alters Toronto’s trajectory and keeps the Maple Leafs in the upper echelon is the arrival of Gavin McKenna. Selected No. 1 in 2026, McKenna is a winger with elite offensive tools and game-breaking ability. If the Maple Leafs can build a little depth around those two and William Nylander, they could win a lot of games, or at the very least score a lot of goals.
6. Anaheim Ducks
The Ducks’ pipeline is staggering. Leo Carlsson is a massive, highly skilled center who controls the middle of the ice and makes difficult plays look routine. Cutter Gauthier and Beckett Sennecke are also among the very best young players in the league. This is a team that is already becoming good, and as time goes on and this group matures together, Anaheim could become a real threat in the West.
7. Florida Panthers
The Panthers will be older, but Aleksander Barkov, Seth Jones, Aaron Ekblad, Sam Reinhart and Matthew and Brady Tkachuk should still be a strong enough core to keep this team highly relevant even five years from now, with someone like Anton Lundell being in his prime at this point, too.
8. Carolina Hurricanes
Carolina will always find ways to add talent. Sebastian Aho, Seth Jarvis and Andrei Svechnikov will be the primary offensive drivers in their primes. Some of their older players like Jaccob Slavin will be close to aging out, but Alexander Nikishin could replace his minutes. The great contracts that Logan Stankoven and Jackson Blake have signed ensure the Canes will likely still be relevant for a long while.
9. Tampa Bay Lightning
The Lightning will look vastly different when the core that brought them multiple Cups is well into their 30s, but their development system remains strong. They have just enough in their system between Conor Geekie, Sam O’Reilly and Benjamin Rautiainen to bridge the two eras that they could squeeze a few extra years out of their contending window than some would expect.
10. Minnesota Wild
Minnesota isn’t the deepest team, but as long as the Wild can keep Quinn Hughes around (which they do in this exercise), to go with Kirill Kaprizov, Matt Boldy, Brock Faber and Jesper Wallstedt, this team should stay relevant while still trying to plug holes down the middle.
11. Colorado Avalanche
This one I’m sure will be controversial. Colorado has two superstars in their prime in Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar. But eventually the flags-fly-forever approach will come to bite the Avalanche, as they have next to nothing in their system and doing that year after year eventually has consequences. They should be fine in the near term and continue to compete, but in five years, they may be closer to what Edmonton is currently.
12. Dallas Stars
Wyatt Johnston, Miro Heiskanen, Thomas Harley, Roope Hintz, Mikko Rantanen and Jake Oettinger are a great long-term core for the Stars. They have a light farm system, and eventually paying wingers too much could bite them, but this team is going to stay relevant because of how high the skill level is among their top players.
13. New Jersey Devils
Jack Hughes and Luke Hughes are elite skaters and dynamic play-drivers. They have the premium talent who are still relatively young and should grow together. Their blue line is a minor concern as well as their goaltending, but Anton Silayev remains a strong prospect, and they should be a quality team for years to come.
14. Philadelphia Flyers
The Flyers have a highly intriguing group of young forwards they are building around, including Trevor Zegras, Porter Martone, Matvei Michkov, and others. There may not be enough at the premium positions yet to be a top-tier team, but they have a lot of good young prospects.
15. Edmonton Oilers
Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard will keep Edmonton competitive for years, but the thin system and lack of secondary scoring will likely to continue being an issue.
16. Columbus Blue Jackets
Columbus’ core group of Zach Werenski and Adam Fantilli are pillars to build around, and the Blue Jackets have some good secondary young talent too. Is it enough to elevate them into a top-tier club? I’m on the fence about that, but I’d expect Columbus to compete for the playoffs.
17. Chicago Blackhawks
Connor Bedard is a star, and Chicago has a lot of highly intriguing young talent around him. Will it be enough? I’m on the fence. I like a lot of the pieces they’ve surrounded Bedard with, but outside of maybe Anton Frondell and Bowen Byram, I’m not sold there’s enough high-end in this group to be more than a consistent wild-card threat.
18. New York Rangers
The Rangers have enough talent both on the team currently and in their prospect pool that you can see a playoff team come together in 3-5 years. Will it be enough to contend? I don’t see enough elite pieces to say that, but they have talent to execute retool 2.0 in a similar way to retool 1.0.
19. New York Islanders
Building around Matthew Schaefer will solve a lot of problems for the Islanders. There’s not a ton after him, though. Their system and roster are decent enough, but they have work to do to become more than a consistent bubble playoff team.
20. St. Louis Blues
The Blues have a lot of solid, middle-of-the-lineup young players in their system who project as everyday NHLers, but they are desperately missing a true star to build around.
21. Washington Capitals
Washington is trying to tread water, rebuilding on the fly after the old core has moved on. The Capitals have good young players and a quality roster. Is it good enough to be more than a consistent bubble playoff team? Probably not at this stage without more top talent.
22. Vegas Golden Knights
For years, Vegas has adopted an all-in approach to its roster building in pursuit of Stanley Cup rings. At some point the bill will come due, and I think in 3-5 years is a reasonable timeframe for that to happen.
23. Seattle Kraken
Matty Beniers is a reliable, two-way center, and Shane Wright, Jake O’Brien and Berkly Catton are very good young forwards. Despite having some nice pieces, Seattle’s pool lacks the explosive, elite game-breakers that separate the good teams from the great ones. The Kraken hope defenseman Chase Reid could be that, but he’s just 18 and years away from materially helping the NHL team.
24. Los Angeles Kings
Quinton Byfield and Brandt Clarke are very talented young players. However, as their veteran core exits, the Kings don’t have enough high-end U23 depth to fill the voids left by Kopitar and Doughty. Their pool is OK, but they will likely straddle the line between in and out of the playoffs unless something materially changes.
25. Nashville Predators
Nashville is in a transitional phase. The Predators have an aging core and a good, but not great prospect system. They will have to straddle the two eras, while ideally continuing to add elite young pieces in the coming years.
26. Ottawa Senators
Tim Stützle and Jake Sanderson are fantastic, high-end players. Adding Dylan Cozens to the mix gave them another big, highly competitive pivot to build around. The glaring issue, however, is that Ottawa’s prospect pool has completely dried up behind them. Without cost-controlled youth pushing up the lineup, the Senators’ depth will be severely tested. This is probably their window to win in the next few years, and if that doesn’t happen, they could take some steps back.
27. Boston Bruins
The Bruins have an average at best roster and farm system, and trying to win while rebuilding on the fly is something that usually backfires more often than leading to a contending team.
28. Detroit Red Wings
The Red Wings have a fine team and a fine farm system. But being just fine at both, for years on end, is not a winning strategy and eventually, when all their star players need to be paid, they will run out of room to add to the team. They’re in a tough spot. They’re not bad, and they should be coming out of the dark days, but without more premium pieces finding their way to the roster, they likely will find themselves drafting high for the next few years.
29. Calgary Flames
Zayne Parekh is a dynamic, highly offensive defenseman, Carson Carels is a great two-way defenseman and Dustin Wolf has the potential to be a quality NHL starter. Beyond a few bright spots, though, the Flames lack the depth of high-end skaters required to compete. They will likely need to pick at the top of the draft for a number of years to reload their system and build out a new core.
30. Pittsburgh Penguins
The post-Sidney Crosby era will be a massive adjustment, but the Penguins’ farm system is all of a sudden quite strong, led by names like Rutger McGroarty, Ben Kindel and the Ruck twins. They’ve done a good job acquiring secondary talent, but the procurement of elite talent for the Penguins’ next era is unclear and could lead to a lengthy rebuild.
31. Winnipeg Jets
With an older core, Winnipeg is stuck between trying to stay relevant and compete and a subpar prospect pool. The result of such a strategy usually doesn’t end well. The Jets will likely make a playoff push or two in the coming years, but they’re heading for a rebuild likely in the medium term.
32. Vancouver Canucks
Vancouver is embracing a rebuild, and that’s a good thing, but it should not be understated how much work and pain is ahead. The Canucks are basically starting from square one again, especially if they deal Elias Pettersson at some point, and it could be a five-to-10 year process to become relevant again.
