Carolina holds the top spot in the second preseason Super 16, but the real exercise is about the players each contender cannot afford to lose. The Hurricanes’ case begins with Jordan Staal, whose playoff run and all-situations work made him the choice over an equally defensible option in Jaccob Slavin.
Staal, 38, enters the season with 1,403 regular-season games and 181 playoff appearances behind him. After winning the Conn Smythe Trophy and scoring a team-leading six goals in the Stanley Cup Final, he remains Carolina’s key faceoff man, shutdown center, penalty-kill staple and the dressing-room voice closest to coach Rod Brind’Amour.
Quick facts
- Carolina stayed No. 1 with 230 voting points after a 53-22-7 season.
- Colorado remained second at 225 points; Dallas held third with 187.
- Montreal climbed from sixth to fifth, while Vegas slipped from fifth to sixth.
- Minnesota rose one place to seventh; Tampa Bay dropped one slot to eighth.
- Pittsburgh, Toronto, New Jersey, the New York Islanders and Ottawa also received votes.
Colorado, coming off a 55-16-11 Presidents’ Trophy season, again sits No. 2. Nathan MacKinnon is viewed as the Avalanche’s irreplaceable piece, even on a roster featuring Cale Makar; Devon Toews can absorb part of a blue-line absence, but no one replicates MacKinnon’s production, pace, drive and ability to make opponents uneasy.
Dallas is third after going 50-20-12, and Wyatt Johnston is the Stars’ choice. The 23-year-old posted career highs with 45 goals, 41 assists and 86 points, led the NHL with 27 power-play goals and finished tied for fourth with 42 power-play points in 82 games. His habit of delivering in major playoff moments adds to the case.
Florida stayed fourth despite its 40-38-4 record last season. Captain Aleksander Barkov missed the entire campaign with a knee injury, and the Panthers failed to reach the playoffs after consecutive Stanley Cup championships. The three-time Selke Trophy winner — in 2021, 2024 and 2025 — is the club’s central matchup forward, faceoff option, special-teams anchor and two-way driver.
Montreal’s rise to No. 5 comes with Nick Suzuki at the center of everything. Suzuki had 101 points, won the Selke Trophy and continued to complement 51-goal scorer Cole Caufield while handling the toughest defensive assignments. Since arriving in 2019-20, the Canadiens captain has appeared in all 537 of Montreal’s games.
Vegas, sixth after a 39-26-17 season, leans heavily on Mitch Marner in every role. Marner logged a team-high 1,616:34 last season and supplied 24 goals and 56 assists in 81 games. He then led the 2026 playoffs with 29 points in 22 games, including 10 goals, helping Brett Howden lead the postseason with 14 goals; Marner, Howden and William Karlsson are expected to remain together.
Minnesota moved to seventh at 148 points, with Joel Eriksson Ek getting the nod over high-end teammates Kirill Kaprizov, Matt Boldy and Quinn Hughes. Kaprizov scored 45 goals and Boldy had 42, but Eriksson Ek led the Wild with 681 faceoff wins, averaged 19:05 and finished plus-16.
Eriksson Ek averaged 23:44 and was plus-7 with three goals and two assists against Dallas in the first round before breaking his heel in Minnesota’s 5-2 Game 6 clincher. The Wild then lost to Colorado in five games in the second round without him, underlining the value of the 29-year-old’s two-way game.
Tampa Bay dropped to eighth, and the Lightning’s answer is straightforward: Andrei Vasilevskiy. Jonas Johansson and Dennis Hildeby are competing for the backup job, but Vasilevskiy remains the foundation behind Tampa Bay’s annual playoff expectations.
During the Lightning’s current nine-season playoff streak, Vasilevskiy ranks first among goaltenders with at least 200 games in wins, 329, save percentage, .917, and goals-against average, 2.48. His 508 games played rank second in that group, while his 38 shutouts are second among all NHL goalies in that span.
Buffalo is ninth after ending its 15-year playoff drought with a 50-23-9 record. Tage Thompson remains the offensive spark, but captain Rasmus Dahlin is the club’s heartbeat after producing 19 goals and 55 assists, sixth among NHL defensemen with 74 points.
Dahlin’s leadership was as important as his scoring. Asked how the Sabres had built such a close group late last season, he offered the memorable answer, “Drink beers,” before stressing that a team has to be connected away from the rink as well.
Washington remains 10th and will place even more on Logan Thompson as Rasmus Sandin recovers from ACL surgery. The Capitals added Vincent Desharnais and expect rookie Cole Hutson to play on the blue line, but Thompson’s 58 starts last season brought a 31-21-6 record, a 2.44 goals-against average, a .912 save percentage and four shutouts.
Those numbers placed Thompson tied for fourth in wins and save percentage, fifth in goals-against average and tied for third in shutouts among goalies with at least 30 appearances. For a club trying to become a serious Cup threat, the crease remains its biggest constant.
Edmonton stays 11th, with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins identified as the Oilers’ most versatile piece. The 33-year-old is preparing to play for his 10th Edmonton coach, Mike Babcock, and can center a line or move to left wing while playing the top power play, penalty kill and late-game situations.
Nugent-Hopkins has filled those roles since Edmonton selected him first overall in the 2011 NHL Draft. His checking work and secondary offense allow the Oilers to adjust throughout a game without losing structure.
Utah remains 12th, and Clayton Keller is still the captain, franchise face and all-time scoring leader. He has 178 points — 56 goals and 122 assists — plus 64 power-play points in 163 games for the franchise, and tied for the team lead with five points in its first playoff appearance last season.
Keller has missed only one game across the last two seasons and just five over the past four, including his Arizona Coyotes tenure. His availability matters as much as his production for a Mammoth club that would look markedly different without him.
Philadelphia is No. 13, with Dan Vladar’s turnaround in net the biggest reason the Flyers snapped a five-season playoff absence. Vladar turned a questionable summer signing into a breakout campaign, recording a 2.42 goals-against average, third in the League among goalies with at least 20 games, and a .923 even-strength save percentage, tied for second.
The Flyers reached the Eastern Conference Second Round and will no longer have the advantage of catching opponents by surprise. That puts the spotlight back on Vladar to match, or exceed, last season’s level.
Anaheim remains 14th, and Jackson LaCombe is the Ducks’ crucial skater even with Leo Carlsson’s importance up front. The Ducks lost John Carlson and Radko Gudas by trade and Jacob Trouba in free agency, leaving LaCombe with a heavier burden after he averaged 24:15 per game last season.
LaCombe’s continued growth is central to Anaheim’s attempt to build on its run to the Western Conference Second Round. The blue line has changed significantly around him.
Boston stays 15th, with Jeremy Swayman narrowly edging David Pastrnak as the Bruins’ indispensable player. Pastrnak drives the offense, but Swayman rebounded from the worst season of his career to the best, lifting Boston from second-last in the Eastern Conference in 2024-25 into the playoffs and a six-game postseason stay.
Swayman was a Vezina Trophy finalist after repeatedly covering for defensive mistakes behind a middle-of-the-pack offense. Boston’s ceiling again depends on whether he can keep the crease at that level.
San Jose closes the 16-team list, and there is little mystery around Macklin Celebrini. The 20-year-old set a franchise record with 115 points on 45 goals and 70 assists, one point more than Will Smith’s 59 and Alexander Wennberg’s 55 combined.
Celebrini has become the focal point of every opposing game plan and the engine for a Sharks team trying to end a seven-year playoff drought. San Jose improved its roster over the summer, but any long absence for No. 71 would dramatically alter that push.
The teams just outside the Super 16 were Pittsburgh with 15 points, Toronto with nine, New Jersey with eight, the New York Islanders with three and Ottawa with two. Carolina, Colorado, Dallas and Florida remain the leading cluster, but the individual choices show how much championship hopes can turn on one center, one defenseman or one goaltender staying in the lineup.
