The NHL Contention Cycle: Where does each team stand now and in the future?

The NHL runs on star power. The best teams are the best teams because they have the best players. Those guys run the show, drive the bus, stir the drink — whatever idiom you want to use.

They’re go-to guys because it’s more often than not those guys leading teams to championships. Or close to it. That was on full display last summer with a star-studded Stanley Cup Final showdown between the Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers .

Advertisement They’re the foundational pieces, team centerpieces, and franchise cornerstones — the ones who form a contending core teams build around. And if your team doesn’t have one, they’re the reason there’s an entire industry in this league predicated on being as bad as possible just for a small chance to land one. That thought process is what informs our annual Player Tiers project, an attempt to create a definitive list of hockey’s best using the collective judgment of knowledgeable insiders in the game and a modeled projection of each player’s value.

It’s what inspired the debut of the Prospect Tiers , a spinoff that hopes to do the same thing by showing who’s up next. GO DEEPER NHL Player Tiers 2024-25: Connor McDavid levels up again, goalies join the discussion Now, the logical culmination of that: Where does that leave each team standing, now and in the future? By looking at how each team grades out via both the Player and Prospect Tiers projects, we’ve created a comprehensive look at how situationally competitive.