NHL Eastern Conference pretenders, pretenders

The 2024-25 NHL season is through its first two months and most of the league’s teams have already started to separate themselves as legitimate Stanley Cup contenders or pretenders.

Here, we are going to take a look at the Eastern Conference. 

Teams that should start planning on next season: Montreal Canadiens, Buffalo Sabres, Columbus Blue Jackets, Detroit Red Wings 

Not only are these teams not even worthy of being called pretenders, they already seem like teams that should be worried about next season. Montreal and Columbus are in the early stages of rebuilds and still years away from serious contention, while Buffalo and Detroit are stuck in what look to be failed rebuilds. 

Playoff pretenders: Pittsburgh Penguins, Ottawa Senators, Philadelphia Flyers, New York Islanders

This quartet is slightly better than the first group, and one of these teams might even sneak into a playoff spot, but none of them have an inside track on a spot. The Flyers have an emerging superstar in Matvei Michkov and what should be a strong future, but it is still just that – a future. It is not their time yet. 

Ottawa is a slightly better version of Buffalo and Detroit in terms of a failed rebuild but has enough high-end young talent to still be interesting, especially if starting goalie Linus Ullmark can turn things around in the second half. 

The Penguins and Islanders are two of the older teams in the league and are kind of stuck between contending and rebuilding. The Penguins still have some Hall of Famers (Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, Erik Karlsson), but they do not defend well and goaltending is going to hold them back. The Islanders have the goaltending but do not do anything else well.

Stanley Cup pretenders: Boston Bruins, New York Rangers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Washington Capitals

Each of these teams is likely to make the playoffs, but they also all have a significant flaw that is going to hold them back against truly elite competition. 

The Bruins and Capitals lack the type of true No. 1 center that every Stanley Cup-winning team needs to win. 

The Lightning still have their high-end core of talent, led by MVP candidate Nikita Kucherov, but they simply do not have the depth at forward or on defense that will get them through another deep playoff run.

The Rangers are still too dependent on goalie Igor Shesterkin and their power play, do not defend well enough, and are still a very mediocre 5-on-5 team. They might win a round or two, but they are not winning a Stanley Cup with this core of playing style.

The Stanley Cup contenders: Carolina Hurricanes, New Jersey Devils, Toronto Maple Leafs, Florida Panthers

These four teams should be the class of the Eastern Conference this season.

Toronto is the one that will draw the most skepticism because we have seen this movie from them before, where a talented, top-heavy team wins a lot of regular season games and then fizzles in the playoffs, but the goaltending and defense both seem different this season. 

New Jersey’s addition of goalie Jacob Markstrom and defenseman Brett Pesce were exactly what they needed to bounce back from last year’s disappointing season, not to mention some significantly better injury luck. They have the high-end talent (Jack Hughes), the strong defense, and now the goaltending to seriously compete for a championship.

Florida and Carolina might simply be the two best teams in the Eastern Conference with the fewest weaknesses.

Florida has an elite offense that is as deep as any team in the league, while Carolina’s defensive structure remains relentless. The Hurricanes also finally have an elite scorer (Martin Necas) breaking out that could help drive their offense for a playoff run.

Bet on one of these four teams winning the Eastern Conference.