- Daily Faceoff has Montreal first in its projected 2029-30 standings for a second straight year
- Edmonton slides 14 spots to 27th with McDavid and Evan Bouchard unsigned past 2030
- Read below for the full contender tier and the biggest movers in both directions
The Montreal Canadiens are the pick to hoist the Stanley Cup in 2030.
Paul Pidutti of Daily Faceoff published the second half of his NHL 2030 series on Wednesday, ranking all 32 teams by where he expects them to finish four years from now. Montreal holds the top spot for a second straight summer. Edmonton tumbles 14 spots to 27th and lands in a tier Pidutti labels Rebuilders.
Montreal’s case is the contract sheet. Lane Hutson, Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Ivan Demidov and Juraj Slafkovsky are all under team control through 2030, and four of them turned up in Pidutti’s projected top 30 players of 2030.
Slafkovsky talked about those team-friendly deals earlier this month after Slovakia named him its Hockey Player of the Year:
Edmonton’s drop comes down to who is not signed. Connor McDavid and Evan Bouchard both reach unrestricted free agency before 2030, and Pidutti no longer builds a long-term McDavid extension into the forecast the way he did a year ago.
That leaves a nearly 35-year-old Leon Draisaitl, young projects Matthew Savoie and Isaac Howard, and one of the thinnest farm systems in the league.
Buffalo made the biggest climb of anyone, rising 15 spots to seventh. Rasmus Dahlin, Tage Thompson, Owen Power, Zach Benson and four more pieces are signed through at least 2030.
Columbus went the other way and fell 16 spots to 30th, the sharpest drop on the board. Zach Werenski’s deal runs out in 2028, and Pidutti does not see him as the face of the franchise past that date.
Werenski shot down the summer’s trade chatter himself on Aug. 13:
Here is how the top eight shook out:
- 1. Montreal Canadiens
- 2. Carolina Hurricanes
- 3. San Jose Sharks
- 4. Dallas Stars
- 5. Utah Mammoth
- 6. Minnesota Wild
- 7. Buffalo Sabres
- 8. Chicago Blackhawks
San Jose at No. 3 rides almost entirely on players who are 21 or younger. Macklin Celebrini, Ivar Stenberg, Michael Misa, Will Smith and Sam Dickinson all factor in, and Celebrini just topped The Athletic’s under-23 rankings this week:
Vancouver came in last at 32nd, with Los Angeles 31st and Calgary 29th. Pittsburgh sits 28th and Florida 26th.
Pidutti did flag his own doubts about the Habs. Montreal ranked 17th in five-on-five expected goal share last season by HockeyStats.com and 23rd by Natural Stat Trick, which is not the profile of a team you would normally hand the next four years.
