To be completely honest, the Metropolitan Division is my least favorite because almost all of the teams are pretty average. This was the hardest Division to rank, not because I had a hard time deciding which amazing team would be higher, but because it was so hard to say which of the mediocre teams would be more mediocre, and I’m expecting this to be my worst predicted division, because it’s so hard to say which team could show up, when they’re really not expected to.
- Carolina Hurricanes
The Carolina Hurricanes have been a team to beat for years, and I see that being amplified even more this season. They have so much star power: Sebastian Aho, Seth Jarvis, and Andrei Svechnikov are regarded as becoming some of the best in the series. I think that it will be a real challenge to stop this team, especially if they get in a groove, and it’ll lead to them beating out the Capitals for the top seed by the end of the regular season. When it comes to cup potential, I can see them as being a contender for a while in the playoffs. It truly depends on who they play that will either stop them or lead them to the cup; there’s no in-between with this team.
- Washington Capitals
The story of last year was Alex Ovechkin’s chase to break Wayne Gretzky’s goal record, which did amazing things for both the NHL as a whole (bringing them a lot more viewership) and for the Capitals, as it carried them to the top of the standings. However, that incentive isn’t there anymore, the record has been broken, and I feel like it will equate to the Capitals not doing as well this year, a fact that was already shown in the Capitals’ debut game, where they lost to a much worse Bruins team. They have plenty of talent, that’s not in question, but I don’t see them as being cup contenders when it comes down to the playoffs.
- New Jersey Devils
The New Jersey Devils really aren’t anything too spectacular, but because they are in the Metropolitan Division, they look like an amazing team. They do have talent; however, they only have one elite player, at least in my opinion. I know that basically the whole world is in love with the Hughes brothers, with the Devils having Jack, who is a really talented forward, and Luke as a leading defenseman, but they aren’t quite good enough to carry their entire team. They look really good with the Devils, but I think that a lot of that is because the Devils are a slightly above-average team, and they don’t have that much competition in being regarded as the best on the team. This isn’t me trashing their skills; I do think that they are talented individuals, and I understand some hype surrounding them, but the Devils don’t have enough talent to carry them in the playoffs. I don’t see them making it past round one.
- Columbus Blue Jackets
Last season, the Columbus Blue Jackets showed a lot of promise and proved that they had skill, but they also had a constant driving mental force that I don’t believe will be as prevalent this season. And because of this, I can see them becoming sloppier; I can see the cracks breaking through. They almost blew it last year by almost losing out on their wildcard spot, and the reason behind this is that one of their best players, Sean Monahan, broke his wrist and was out for a significant period of time, showcasing major weakness in the team. If injuries occur again, especially with their few star players, they’ll plummet in the standings.
- Philadelphia Flyers
I think that the Philadelphia Flyers will show a lot of promise this year; they’ll certainly look better than they did last year. With the addition of Trevor Zegras from Anaheim, who is now reunited with ex-teammates Jamie Drysdale and Cam York, I think that chemistry will show a lot of growth from the team. That being said, I think they’re still partly in a development period; they have to get used to a new coach, with John Tortorella being fired near the end of last season, but they should be showing some promise of becoming at least a wildcard team in future seasons.
- Pittsburgh Penguins
The Pittsburgh Penguins have been relying on the same core three for twenty years, and it’s getting a little bit ridiculous. They base their entire team on what Sidney Crosby needs to make the team successful again, except they’re not really getting better. Three people don’t win a cup, but the Pittsburgh Penguins seem to think that they can pull it off with just Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang, and to that I say: have fun living in delusion land. I think that they’ll be able to get back to a semi-consistent winning pattern once they get some more depth in talent, but when that will be is hard to say. I just really hope that they can figure it out before Crosby inevitably retires or decides to leave.
- New York Rangers
It is a complete wonder to me how just two years ago, the New York Rangers were winning the President’s Cup and were such a talented team, just to almost completely drop off. It doesn’t help that they sent away their captain, Jacob Trouba, who had turned the reputation of the team into being rough and not afraid to throw elbows, for the most part, legally. And they do have Matt Rempe now, who follows in the footsteps of the Trouba Train, but he has problems landing legal hits, and keeps getting suspended for his absolutely dirty hits, so he isn’t going to be making too much impact on the “fear” factor that the Rangers wish to be emanating. They may end up shocking me by the end of the year, but I’m not too sure that they will.
- New York Islanders
The New York Islanders are an unfortunate example of wasted potential because they have such an amazing goalie in Ilya Sorokin and some other talented forwards and defenders, but they still struggle to win. They got the first pick in the 2025 NHL Draft, which they can celebrate all they want, but at the end of the day, it means that they have one of the worst teams in the league, which they used to pick up celebrated defenceman Matthew Schaefer. The problem with this, as I’ve seen occur time and time again, is that they have faith that one player can change everything for them, turn their bad luck to good, and start winning a bunch. This truly isn’t a good way to base your team; if the Islanders want to grow as a team, they need to bring in more talent. I can’t think of a single time where one player can change the course of their team the amount that the Islanders need.
