- Daily Faceoff names the Ducks, Sabres, Avalanche, Stars and Golden Knights as the five teams that slid backward
- Anaheim lost the entire right side of its defense and still has to clear room for Cutter Gauthier
- Read below for why the reigning Western Conference champions made the list
Training camps open in a few weeks, and not every roster in the league came out of this summer better than it went in.
Matt Larkin of Daily Faceoff put out his list of the five NHL teams that look noticeably weaker heading into 2026-27, and Anaheim leads it. Pat Verbeek moved Mason McTavish and Olen Zellweger, then watched John Carlson, Jacob Trouba and Radko Gudas walk, gutting the right side of the blue line.
The cap math is the bigger problem. After matching Philadelphia’s $18 million offer sheet on Leo Carlsson, the Ducks do not have the space to pay Cutter Gauthier, who turned down a four-year deal at a $13 million cap hit this week. Larkin expects one of Chris Kreider, Alex Killorn or Frank Vatrano to get moved to make it work.
Buffalo is on the list with a caveat. Larkin likes the long-term haul from the Bowen Byram trade, but the Sabres let Alex Tuch reach free agency and collected only a 2027 third-round pick for his rights.
Colorado won the Presidents’ Trophy and got swept out of the Western Conference Final, then spent the summer shedding salary. Valeri Nichushkin went to Columbus. Jack Drury and Ross Colton went to Nashville. Jaden Schwartz, Fedor Svechkov and Zachary L’Heureux are the bets to replace them, and Larkin thinks Jared Bednar’s seat warms up in a hurry if they miss.
Dallas comes next, and the Jason Robertson situation is why. Jim Nill gave up Mavrik Bourque and ate the cost of dumping Ilya Lyubushkin just to fit a one-year, $12 million deal that walks Robertson toward unrestricted free agency. The Stars never added the top-four defenseman they needed, and they are counting on a 34-year-old Tyler Seguin coming off a torn ACL.
Vegas rounds it out. The Golden Knights put their money into Rasmus Andersson’s new contract and let Pavel Dorofeyev go, one of only 12 players in the league to score 35 or more goals in each of the last two seasons. Victor Olofsson is the replacement on paper.
Colton Sissons, Cole Smith, Keegan Kolesar, Kaedan Korczak and backup goalie Akira Schmid are all gone too, which leaves the bottom of the lineup thin.
Nine points is what separated Vegas from ninth in the West last season. That is a smaller cushion than a division title and a conference final run make it sound like.
