On Wednesday, the NHL unveiled its 2025-26 season schedule. The Florida Panthers will unveil their second consecutive Stanley Cup championship banner Oct. 7, when they host the Chicago Blackhawks on Opening Night.
The Panthers will be a Stanley Cup betting favorite again next season, but are the Blackhawks the team with the brightest future? BetCanada.com ranked all 32 NHL teams on their potential in the years to come. We developed a scoring system using the average of teams’ prospect pool ratings from Hockey Prospecting (through this month) and the teams’ draft value rankings for the next three drafts from PuckPedia.
Rank, Team | Prospect Pool Ranking | Draft Value Ranking | Average Overall Ranking |
1. San Jose Sharks | 1.0 | 3.0 | 2.0 |
2. Chicago Blackhawks | 5.0 | 1.0 | 3.0 |
3. Seattle Kraken | 4.0 | 6.0 | 5.0 |
4. Philadelphia Flyers | 3.0 | 10.0 | 6.5 |
T5. New York Islanders | 12.0 | 5.0 | 8.5 |
T5. Calgary Flames | 8.0 | 9.0 | 8.5 |
T5. Anaheim Ducks | 6.0 | 11.0 | 8.5 |
8 Nashville Predators | 14.0 | 4.0 | 9.0 |
T9. Utah Mammoth | 18.0 | 2.0 | 10.0 |
T9. Montreal Canadiens | 2.0 | 18.0 | 10.0 |
11. Columbus Blue Jackets | 10.0 | 13.0 | 11.5 |
12. Pittsburgh Penguins | 17.0 | 8.0 | 12.5 |
T13. Detroit Red Wings | 13.0 | 15.0 | 14.0 |
T13. Carolina Hurricanes | 11.0 | 17.0 | 14.0 |
15. Minnesota Wild | 7.0 | 22.0 | 14.5 |
T16. Buffalo Sabres | 16.0 | 14.0 | 15.0 |
T16. Washington Capitals | 9.0 | 21.0 | 15.0 |
18. Boston Bruins | 27.0 | 7.0 | 17.0 |
19. New York Rangers | 23.0 | 12.0 | 17.5 |
T20. New Jersey Devils | 19.0 | 20.0 | 19.5 |
T20. St. Louis Blues | 15.0 | 24.0 | 19.5 |
22. Vancouver Canucks | 31.0 | 16.0 | 23.5 |
23. Colorado Avalanche | 20.0 | 28.0 | 24.0 |
T24. Los Angeles Kings | 30.0 | 19.0 | 24.5 |
T24. Vegas Golden Knights | 22.0 | 27.0 | 24.5 |
T26. Winnipeg Jets | 26.0 | 25.0 | 25.5 |
T26. Edmonton Oilers | 25.0 | 26.0 | 25.5 |
T26. Tampa Bay Lightning | 21.0 | 30.0 | 25.5 |
29. Ottawa Senators | 29.0 | 23.0 | 26.0 |
30. Dallas Stars | 24.0 | 31.0 | 27.5 |
31. Toronto Maple Leafs | 28.0 | 32.0 | 30.0 |
32. Florida Panthers | 32.0 | 29.0 | 30.5 |
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Many eyes will be on the Panthers to see if they can become the first team in more than 40 years to win three straight Stanley Cups. Florida’s offseason was nearly as big as its postseason as the team was able to retain the core players who were free agent eligible.
On the other hand, Chicago has struggled mightily in recent years, having reached the playoffs only once since 2018 (and that came when the league expanded the postseason at the end of the COVID-truncated 2019-20 campaign). However, the Blackhawks have acquired several promising young players in recent years, such as 2023 top draft pick Connor Bedard, in hopes of soon becoming a contender and a better NHL betting proposition.
It shouldn’t be a surprise that the Blackhawks and Panthers are on the opposite ends of our list of teams with the best future prospects. Florida was the ninth-oldest team last season, with an average player age of 29.6. Chicago ranked 25th at 28.1, but the team got younger as the season progressed, with the Blackhawks moving veterans like Seth Jones (to the Panthers) and Taylor Hall (to the Hurricanes) for draft picks and prospects.
San Jose had two first-round draft picks for the third straight year this summer. With the No. 2 overall pick, the Sharks selected center Michael Misa. It’s the third straight draft the team had a top-five pick and went with a center.
Macklin Celebrini, the 2024 top pick, had a solid rookie campaign as he tallied 63 points (25G, 38A) in 70 games. Three of San Jose’s top scorers last season were 22 years old or younger, and seven regular skaters (playing 60 or more games) were 25 or younger.
Both San Jose and Chicago finished last in the divisions this past season. The playoffs might still be a year or two away, but fans in both cities have hope for better days ahead. Canadian sports betting apps already have futures odds for next season.
Chances are, if you’re a fan of one of the NHL’s seven teams that play north of the border, then you’re going to be disappointed by these rankings.
Only two teams – Calgary and Montreal – cracked the top 10. The other five were all ranked 22nd or lower.
The Calgary Flames barely missed out on the postseason in 2024-25, but their two first round draft picks from 2024 look very promising and could make them a Stanley Cup playoff mainstay for years to come. Defenseman Zayne Parekh scored 33 goals and 74 assists in 61 OHL games last season and ended 2024-25 by lighting the lamp in his lone game with the Flames. Meanwhile, forward Matvei Gridin spent the season in the QMJHL, where he earned 79 points in 56 games to win that junior league’s offensive rookie of the year award.
The Montreal Canadiens made the playoffs last season, which was a surprise to many who expected the Habs to struggle again. Montreal’s young players led the team to beat expectations. Nick Suzuki, at age 25, had a career year with a team-high and personal best 89 points. Cole Caulfield scored a career-best 37 goals at age 24, and 20-year-old Lane Hutson dazzled the league with 60 assists as a rookie defenseman to win the Calder Trophy last season.
In addition, Habs fans got a glimpse of 19-year-old Russian Ivan Demidov as the season ended. A full year of Demidov in Montreal could help the Canadiens return to the postseason for a second straight year.
Check out our NHL Team of the Half Decade to find out who we ranked as the league’s best since 2020.
USA Today photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea
The San Jose Sharks (2.0 average ranking), Chicago Blackhawks (3.0), and Seattle Kraken (5.0) lead the NHL future rankings, driven by strong prospect pools and high-value draft picks for 2026–2028, per BetCanada.com.
The San Jose Sharks (1.0), Montreal Canadiens (2.0), and Philadelphia Flyers (3.0) boast the NHL’s top prospect pools, per Hockey Prospecting, making them teams to watch for future stardom.
High draft value, such as Chicago’s top ranking (1.0) or Utah’s (2.0), allows teams to select elite players in 2026–2028 drafts, building a foundation for sustained success, according to PuckPedia.
The Florida Panthers (30.5) rank last due to a weak prospect pool (32.0) and low draft value (29.0), as their focus on recent championships has limited future assets, per 2025 data.
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Steve is an accomplished, award-winning reporter with more than 20 years of experience covering gaming, sports, politics and business. He has written for the Associated Press, Reuters, The Louisville Courier Journal, The Center Square and numerous other publications. Based in Louisville, Ky., Steve has covered the expansion of sports betting in the U.S. and other gaming matters. He shares his expertise on BetCanada, among other sites.
