NHL Preseason Power Rankings: Hurricanes on Top, Panthers Poised for Massive Rebound

The banners haven't even been raised at Lenovo Center, but the Carolina Hurricanes are already back in the crosshairs. As NHL training camps open this week, the 2026 Stanley Cup champions sit exactly where they ended June: looking down at the rest of the league.[1]

Carolina claimed the No. 1 spot in the preseason edition of the NHL.com Super 16 power rankings, pulling 11 of 15 first-place votes from the editorial panel. After a dominant 53-22-7 regular season and a six-game conquest of the Vegas Golden Knights in the Final, the Hurricanes are the undisputed measuring stick. But as the panel noted, "how the Hurricanes handle the start of camp, getting back to work, focusing on the first steps to a repeat will make the difference."[1]

Right behind them are the Colorado Avalanche, a team fueled by the bitter aftertaste of a squandered historic run. Colorado captured the 2025-26 Presidents' Trophy with a staggering 52-16-10 record and 114 points, only to be swept out of the Western Conference Final by Vegas.[1][5][7]

Nathan MacKinnon, who buried a career-high 52 goals last year, and a healthy Cale Makar return to a roster that Sportsnet ranks as the absolute best in the league entering camp. The top-end talent in Denver remains overwhelming, but the pacing of their 84-game marathon will dictate whether they can avoid another postseason burnout.[2][3][7]

But the most fascinating storyline on the ice resides in Sunrise, Florida. The Panthers, who won back-to-back Cups in 2024 and 2025, plummeted to a 40-38-4 record last season and missed the playoffs entirely. The collapse was purely medical: captain Aleksander Barkov tore his ACL and MCL in the first practice of training camp, and Matthew Tkachuk missed 47 games following offseason surgery.[1][3]

The front office didn't just wait for the roster to heal; they swung the biggest blockbuster of the summer. On June 21, Florida shipped the No. 9 and No. 25 picks in the 2026 NHL Draft, plus two future high-round selections, to the Ottawa Senators to acquire 26-year-old power forward Brady Tkachuk. Brady, who posted 59 points in 60 games last season, unites with his older brother to form a terrifying, physical top six.[1][6]

"You can just feel the energy and excitement," Brady Tkachuk told reporters at the NHL/NHLPA North American Player Media Tour in Las Vegas. "It's just a dream come true."[4]

Florida also overhauled its crease, bringing in veteran Jacob Markstrom to replace the departing Sergei Bobrovsky. Daily Faceoff lists the Panthers as the most obvious bounce-back candidate in the league, noting that the idea of a healthy Florida core missing the postseason again "would be ludicrous."[1][3]

The Dallas Stars sit comfortably in the top three of the consensus rankings. Pulling 189 voting points from the NHL.com panel, Dallas remains a perennial threat in the Central Division, boasting a deep, veteran-laden roster that continues to challenge Colorado's supremacy in the West.[1]

Further down the board, the Montreal Canadiens are emerging as the league's trendiest sleeper. NHL.com analyst Dan Rosen actually cast his first-place vote for the Habs, citing the rapid maturation of 22-year-old defenseman Lane Hutson and Russian phenom Ivan Demidov. Under head coach Martin St. Louis, Montreal's rebuild appears to be shifting into a legitimate contention window.[1]

The runway is short. The NHL's newly expanded 84-game regular season drops the puck on September 29. For Carolina, the target is squarely on their backs. For Florida and Colorado, the next two weeks are about proving last spring was an anomaly.[3]