iNHL Power rankings, start of 2024 WESTERN CONFERENCE
Jul 5, 2018 11:19:36 GMT -5
Rob, bjernagris (PHI), and 4 more like this
Post by Ville (SJS) on Jul 5, 2018 11:19:36 GMT -5
WESTERN CONFERENCE POWER RANKINGS 2024/25
1. Winnipeg Jets
Defense A-
No major departures on the reigning champions defense. With Morrissey and Vannelli leading the way, the Jets probably have the most talented defense pairing of the conference. Second pairing of Le Coultre and Sergachev is of very high standard too, while the 3rd pairing is a classic stay at home -duo. Projected lineup:
Morrissey - Vannelli
Le Coultre - Sergachev
King - Dunn
Offense B+
Lethal first line and backed up by one of the very best defensive pairings in the league makes them almost unstoppable. Kyle Connor has established himself as a superstar and Johnny hockey has been up there for years and isn't showing signs of slowing down. Depth is not a strength of this team and behind the first line there are not many difference makers. Young Niko Huuhtanen is probably in for a spot on the opening night roster. Projected lines:
Gaudreau - Connor - Nylander
Gildon - Tiivola - Gogolev
Damiani - Musil - Huuhtanen
Perfetti - Drover - Mokhov
Goalies A-
Kaapo Kähkönen. All-star goalie with a big showing in the playoffs and especially in game 7 of the Stanley cup finals. What more can you ask? Young Nolan Boyd looks like a decent talent too.
2. Edmonton Oliers
Defense B
Edmonton has a very formidable top-4 in Werenski, Busby, Nurse and Rielly. Werenski signed a big, eight year deal in the summer and is expected to raise his game even further. The Edmonton defense looks solid and ready to contend for sure. Projected lineup:
Werenski - Busby
Nurse - Rielly
Barteaux - Weegar
Offense A-
The offense naturally is built around Connor McDavid, who is now entering his 10th season in the league. 428 points in his last 5 seasons, he is one of the absolute best in the game of hockey. The Oilers have lots of talent on offense too, and can surround McDavid with 1st round picks if they choose to. David Levin, picked in 2018, has back to back 25 goal seasons and except him to do even better this season. Projected lineup:
Crouse - McDavid - Levin
Stringer - Fortier - Kapanen
Silianoff - Pollock - Burakovsky
Dobias - Gingras - Semchuk
Goalies B
Cormier is a proven goalie, but only two on the roster? Surely the Oilers need to add someone before the season kicks off.
3. Vegas Golden Knights
Defense B+
Victor Hedman was recently traded from the Islanders to be the stud leader of the Vegas defense. That was probably just what the doctor ordered for the Knights, who have many decent-to good iNHL defensemen, but were lacking a clear number one. Provided Hedman can keep playing at the highest level, he should be a real boost for this team. Projected lineup:
Hedman - Saari
Fazleev - Wojcik
Johnson - Gudbranson
Offense B+
Lethal first line for the Knights after getting big Jesse Puljujärvi in a big trade in the offseason. Center depth is also at a very good level with Reinhart, Granlund and all of Johnson, Kotkaniemi and Coxhead too very comfortable at C. Pulju needs to have a strong season after being brought in for a couple of firsts, but there's no reason in sight why he wouldn't. Projected lineup:
Kucherov - Reinhart - Puljujärvi
Vrana - Granlund - Johnson
MacInnis - Kotkaniemi - Coxhead
Burrows - Murray - Dahlgren
Goalies B+
Ales Stezka is one of the top goalies in the league, and will carry the majority of the load with the backup job up for grabs.
4. Seattle Sea Lions
Defense B
Much lies on the shoulders of the extremely talented Julius Honka. 126 points in the two seasons he has played for the Sea Lions. Very mobile defenseman can join every rush and even finish them off. Zach Lauzon is the defensive rock for Seattle, and young Ervasti and Pelletier play in fairly big roles too. Predicted lineup:
Lauzon - Honka
Ervasti - Pelletier
Staios - Jones
Offense B+
Seattle reeled in the biggest fish in free agency once again by signing Tomas Hertl to a one year, 10 million deal. That contract comes with a lot of responsibility obviously and Hertl is expected to be the #1 star on offense the team arguably has been lacking. Mikhail Bitsadze had a great season with 62 points ast center, so he is probably going with newly aquired Hertl n his wing. Look for Albin Grewe to have a big season here too. Predicted lineup:
Tkachuk - Bitsadze - Hertl
Aaltonen - Grewe - Wahlström
Pastujov - Hugg - Mascherin
Crone - Bellerive - Morong
Goalies A-
Adam Brizgala was one of the best goalies last season, so that department is sorted for the Sea Lions.
5. St Louis Blues
Defense B+
Rasmus Dahlin is the best defenseman in the league and he's 24 years old at the moment. The four time all-star had 65 points last season and was awarded with an new 8 year deal with the Blues. Very good,young core for the St Louis defense, but maybe, after losing Pietrangelo, in need of 1-2 more to make it through the season. Projected lineup:
Dahlin - Green
Byram - Farrance
Bigras - Coghlan
Offense B+
Start of a new era on the Blues offense after Tarasenko was traded to the Senators in the summer. Losing a player of that calibre would hurt the production of any team. That said, the Blues offense still features somme very good and proven scorers. Who's going to fill the RW vacancy on the 1st line? Projected lineup:
Schwartz - Teräväinen - Putintsev
Lindholm - Kreider - Walsh
Pastujov - Larkin - Török
Dickinson - Lafontaine - Mikkola
Goalies B+
Raaymakers is the starter and a very good one at that. The Blues also signed the talented Clang, undrafted player from Karlskrona, Sweden.
6. San Jose Sharks
Defense B+
The experienced Ryan Murray can play in any situation and is the obvious leader on the Sharks defense. He had a top showing last year with 56 points and the Sharks will be needing that again in order to have success. Very solid defense with no real weak spots and specialists for both PP and PK. Predicted lineup:
Murray - Clague
Jaros - Sanheim
Boqvist - Zborovsky
Offense B+
Plenty of firepower on the Sharks offense with superstar Josh Ho-Sang leading the way. San Jose pulled off one of the heists of the decade in bringing Ho-Sang from the Stars for the price of a 3rd liner. Mansurov, Senyshyn, Räsänen, Palmieri and young Kaplan form a nice, potent offense for the Sharks. The center position and overall depth are still something of a questionmark. Predicted lineup:
Ho-Sang - Räsänen - Mansurov
Palmieri - Kaplan - Senyshyn
Rowan - Persson - Herzog
Lapin - Sicoly - Guest
The Sharks might even give Palmieri a shot at centering the top line if Räsänen has trouble keeping up.
Goalies C+
Halverson is the starter with Otter, Lappi and Edquist fighting for the backup job. Halverson, despite his obvious talent has not yet managed to play consistently good for a entire season.
7. Vancouver Canucks
Defense B+
The Canucks Swiss army knife Jonathan Drouin can play anywhere, including defense. That's where he is listed on the roster, so that's where we assume he will be starting the season. Jacob Trouba and Thomas Chabot are both seasoned veterans and of very high quality at that. Chabot had his best season to date with 48 points last season. Projected lineup:
Drouin - Chabot
Neill - Pane
Brewer - Trouba
Offense B+
Loads of young and upcoming offense on the Canucks. Leading the pack is Dovar Tinling, the #2 overall pick in 2021, he finished his rookie season with 63 points and is a pretty safe bet to continue in an upwards spiral. The Canucks have the luxury of also having the 2022 #1 overall pick on the roster in Matthew Savoie, he is comfortable both at center and on the wing. Projected lineup:
Virtanen - Tinling - Boeser
Keller - Turris - Sokolov
Lavoie - Deveaux - Tuch
Mäenalanen - Alexeyev - Dmytriw
Goalies C+
Brendan Bonello has the most iNHL experience of the goalies with 30 games, so that will be a interesting point to follow with the Canucks.
8. Chicago Blackhawks
Defense B
Nice young and dynamic defense core for the Blackhawks. Välimäki, Woo, Johansen and Meyn all guys who can skate, move the puck and also take care of the defense. Former 1st rounder Juuso Välimäki had his strongest season to date with 42 points and good defensive numbers too.
Johansen - Välimäki
Graves - Woo
Meyn - Chainey
Offense B+
Young and dynamic, that can be said of the offense also. Quentin Byfield, 21 and Michael La Starza, 19 at center seem to be the future for the Hawks. Captain Robby Fabbri represents the more experienced side of the team and he plays on elite level every night to set the standard for the younger players.
Fabbri - Byfield - Brown
Ritchie - La Starza - Sprong
Roman - McCann - Etem
Pezzetta - Sciarini - Rychel
Goalies B-
We had our doubts about Linus Söderström this time of the year before last season and his showings during the season didn't do much to lift those doubts. The Blackhawks are a playoff team if they get som goaltending.
9. Colorado Avalanche
Defense B+
Shea Theodore is one of the most productive defensemen in the league, 189 points the past three seasons. Other top performers on the defense are Erik Cernak and Rasmus Ristolainen. A great core to build your game around. Projected lineup:
Theodore - Ristolainen
Cernak - Wood
Struble - Middleton
Offense B
Very strong first line led by one of the best wingers in the league, Nathan MacKinnon. Jonathan Huberdeau is the center and Jack Kopacka has emerged as a consistent scorer with back to back 70+ point seasons. Young Chaz Lucius scored 21 goals as a 20 -year old and most likely improve on that this campaign. Projected lineup:
Kopacka - Huberdeau - MacKinnon
Lindberg - Loschiavo - Lucius
Bowers - Dowiak - Eggenberger
Gauthier - Dahlström - Devine
Goalies B+
Only three goalies contracted at the moment, but Amundrud is a top goalie with a save pct over .910 for the past four seasons now.
10. Arizona Coyotes
Defense B+
Oliver Ekman-Larsson is still going strong at 33 as the Coyotes top defenseman. Dante Fabbro and Samuelsson are right up there with him and young Björnfot has established him as a permanent figure on the Coyotes blueline. The bottom pairing looks to be Kyle Capobianco along with some of the rookies. Projected lineup:
Samuelsson - OEL
Björnfot - Fabbro
Capobianco - Vassos
Offense B-
Auston Matthews, the captain and best player on the team is as reliable as a Swiss clock. He keeps turning up night after night putting up great performances. He has played i n all 82 games for five seasons in a row now and in the last four, scored 71-77 points/ season. Talk about consistency. Max Domi had someting of a disappointing season last year with only 45 points. Look for him to return to his usual form. Projected lineup:
Domi - Matthews - Peterson
Andersson - Sakhokiya - Neumann
Letunov - Steenbergen - Ambrosio
Olhaver - Höglander - Valenti
Goalscoring beyond the first line can prove hard to find. Of course the Coyotes can spread it out some by playing Domi 2nd line center.
Goalies C+
Of the four goalies on the roster, Drew DeRidder has the most iNHL experience with 14 games under his belt. Some talented guys, but very inexperienced.
11. Anaheim Ducks
Defense B-
Case McCarthy, the former #1 overall draft pick is a great young talent. The 2-way defenseman had excellent numbers last year. 41 points on the season along with 84 takeaways and 299 shots blocked. Those are elite numbers by the 23-year old. Experienced Adam Larsson is also still of top-4 caliber, Olli Juolevi and Noah Juulsen in the mix too. After those it seems pretty thin with a few young guys looking to squeeze their way into the bottom pairing. Predicted lineup:
Juolevi - McCarthy
Larsson - Juulsen
Prokop - Nässen
Offense B+
Steven Stamkos is back after losing pretty much the entire season with a elbow injury. With a healthy Stamkos the Ducks can still field a pretty good offense with Seguin, Nylander and Pastrnak as top talent. Overall depth is a problem with this team and the management needs to get things sorted soon. Projected lineup:
Nylander - Stamkos - Pastrnak
Roy - Seguin - Gauthier
Gardiner - Virtanen - Merkley
Toporowski - Koch - Deere
Goalies D
Vaccari, Skarek, Matthew and D'orio. All unknown and unproven, time only will tell who is going to be between the pipes for Anaheim.
12. Nashville Predators
Defense B-
Veteran Cody Ceci is the leader on the Nashville backline. Gone are the days of the Subbans and Josis and Nashville addressed this in the draft by drafting two defensemen in the first round. Those guys are still long ways from making a difference. Ceci and Carlo are the only really established defensemen on the roster and the rest might yet change during the season. Late signings brought in Mitch Vande Sompel and Dylan Coghlan to bring up the NSH defense from a C to B- Projected lineup:
Vande Sompel - Ceci
Carlo - Ferrandino
Coghlan - De Jong
Offense B-
The offense is lead by superstar Filip Forsberg, who has had his fair share of injuries the past seasons. Last season was pretty good though, with Forsberg only missing eight games. He scored 63 points and led the team. He is joined by his long time partner in crime, Nail Yakupov, who still is good for 30 goas if all goes to plan. Those two are pretty much the only proven scorers the Preds have on their roster, so new stars need to lit here in order for Nashville to have some success this season. Projected lineup:
Petan - Forsberg - Yakupov
Zinovyev - Newhook - Pu
Poluektov - Zhabreyev - Platzer
Sisik - Dellandrea - Golovatchev
Goalies B+
Markus Ruusu is the Backup for Evan Sarthou, who is an established iNHL -goalie and the Preds will be fine goalie-wise.
13. Minnesota Wild
Defense B-
Anthony DeAngelo is a defenseman in the Paul Coffey -mold and needs the puck on his stick. He scored a whopping 22 goals last season, finishing with 62 total points. Only 5 of those goal were on the PP, and DeAngelo can be a dominating player 5 on 5 due to his excellent skating. 2022 first round pick Seamus Casey in his rookie season looked very much at home in this league and expect a strong showing from him. Projected lineup:
Carlsson - DeAngelo
Lindgren - Casey
Guhle - Geertsen
Offense B
Joel ErikssonEk has had elite production for the last years, 224 points the past three seasons. There the Wild have their offensive leader and on a team friendly contract too. Former 1st round pick Max Jones was brought over from Detroit in the hope that he would find his game in this league at last. Young Connor Lockhart might be looking for that #1 center spot if the Wild don't decide to play JEE at center. Some seasoned veterans in Brendan Gallagher and Jamie Benn will provide nice secondary scoring. Projected lineup:
Eriksson Ek - Lockhart - Benn
Jones - Betts - Gallagher
Wood - Toivola - Bratt
Barratt - Dhooghe - Nättinen
Goalies B+
Carter Hart and Juuse Saros the probable goaltending tandem for Minnesota. Hart had something of a disappointing showing last year, following the promise he showed in his first season in Minny. Saros is a very able backup who can steal the show if Hart can't find his form.
14. Los Angeles Kings
Defense C+
The Kings had a glorius start to last season, but finally faded away without making the playoffs. That start was due to great offense. The defense was a problem, it still is a problem. Seth Jones with 800+ games is the obvious leader on defense and will be playing every other shift all season. Behind him the Kings don't have much to show and they need big performances from guys like Rhett Rhinehart. Projected lineup:
Labbé - Jones
Hague - Rhinehart
Thilander - Neveu
Offense B+
Very good top-6 for the Kings. Rourke Chartier has scored 60+ points three seasons in a row now and pocket sized DeBrincat had a career high 34 goals last season. Gabe Vilardi and Austin Pratt are just getting into their own in the league and the offense certainly won't be a problem for the Kings. Projected lineup:
Chartier - Vilardi - DeBrincat
Rantanen - Pratt - Hoyt
St Laurent - Shvyryov - Glass
Timashov - Gervais - Bracco
Goalies B+
Goalie situation looks good with Vomacka, who played very well for the Flyers last season and Pickard, who has shown promise, but has not yet found a starting job in the league.
15. Dallas Stars
Defense B-
The Stars are in midst of something of a makeover after moving long standing leaders on both defense and offense. Calen Addison has taken over the main playmaker role on the Dallas defense. Joni Tuulola also had 45 points last year, but word is he might have taken a step back in summer training. Projected lineup:
Gildon - Addison
Tuulola - Sidorov
Lehtonen - Mahura
Offense C+
Life after Crosby starts with the 2024/25 season. In the trade with Carolina came Matej Toman, the 23 year old will probably start at 1st line center. 50 points behind many great players with the Hurricanes, the Stars are hoping the increased responsibility in Dallas helps Toman reach new heights Eeli Tolvanen was also a part of the Crosby deal and it will be interesting to see if he can reproduce the 43 goals as a Star. Bashkirov and Poirier also come with expectations. These guys have had great production in the KHL and remains to be seen how that shows in the iNHL. Projected lineup:
Tolvanen - Toman - Dubois
Somppi - White - Poirier
Bashkirov - Perepechayev - Lee
Nussbaumer - Monakhov - Chatham
Goalies B+
Carey Price didn't let his 36 years slow him down last season as he had a brilliant season last year. Evan Smith and Olle Eriksson Ek also looked sharp, so goaltending is sorted.
16. Calgary Flames
Defense B-
Sam Girard had his best season to date with 42 points from the Flames blueline last season. The Flames have a group of solid defensemen, but no real star players here. Should still be solid enough to do well if the team can find ways to put the puck in the net. Projected lineup:
Matheson - Girard
Vala - O'Grady
Carroll - McKeown
Offense C+
The 1st line can very well win the Flames some games, but otherwise the offense seems lacking in proven talent. The Flames need some big stepping up by unexpected player in order to compete for a playoff spot.
B.Bennett - S.Bennett - Saad
Bernhardz - Dunkley - Karnaukhov
Maltsev - Kyrou - Tufte
Murray - Dube - Nordgren
Goalies A-
There are always top goalies in Calgary it seems. Baribeau can most certainly steal some games during the season.
1. Winnipeg Jets
Defense A-
No major departures on the reigning champions defense. With Morrissey and Vannelli leading the way, the Jets probably have the most talented defense pairing of the conference. Second pairing of Le Coultre and Sergachev is of very high standard too, while the 3rd pairing is a classic stay at home -duo. Projected lineup:
Morrissey - Vannelli
Le Coultre - Sergachev
King - Dunn
Offense B+
Lethal first line and backed up by one of the very best defensive pairings in the league makes them almost unstoppable. Kyle Connor has established himself as a superstar and Johnny hockey has been up there for years and isn't showing signs of slowing down. Depth is not a strength of this team and behind the first line there are not many difference makers. Young Niko Huuhtanen is probably in for a spot on the opening night roster. Projected lines:
Gaudreau - Connor - Nylander
Gildon - Tiivola - Gogolev
Damiani - Musil - Huuhtanen
Perfetti - Drover - Mokhov
Goalies A-
Kaapo Kähkönen. All-star goalie with a big showing in the playoffs and especially in game 7 of the Stanley cup finals. What more can you ask? Young Nolan Boyd looks like a decent talent too.
2. Edmonton Oliers
Defense B
Edmonton has a very formidable top-4 in Werenski, Busby, Nurse and Rielly. Werenski signed a big, eight year deal in the summer and is expected to raise his game even further. The Edmonton defense looks solid and ready to contend for sure. Projected lineup:
Werenski - Busby
Nurse - Rielly
Barteaux - Weegar
Offense A-
The offense naturally is built around Connor McDavid, who is now entering his 10th season in the league. 428 points in his last 5 seasons, he is one of the absolute best in the game of hockey. The Oilers have lots of talent on offense too, and can surround McDavid with 1st round picks if they choose to. David Levin, picked in 2018, has back to back 25 goal seasons and except him to do even better this season. Projected lineup:
Crouse - McDavid - Levin
Stringer - Fortier - Kapanen
Silianoff - Pollock - Burakovsky
Dobias - Gingras - Semchuk
Goalies B
Cormier is a proven goalie, but only two on the roster? Surely the Oilers need to add someone before the season kicks off.
3. Vegas Golden Knights
Defense B+
Victor Hedman was recently traded from the Islanders to be the stud leader of the Vegas defense. That was probably just what the doctor ordered for the Knights, who have many decent-to good iNHL defensemen, but were lacking a clear number one. Provided Hedman can keep playing at the highest level, he should be a real boost for this team. Projected lineup:
Hedman - Saari
Fazleev - Wojcik
Johnson - Gudbranson
Offense B+
Lethal first line for the Knights after getting big Jesse Puljujärvi in a big trade in the offseason. Center depth is also at a very good level with Reinhart, Granlund and all of Johnson, Kotkaniemi and Coxhead too very comfortable at C. Pulju needs to have a strong season after being brought in for a couple of firsts, but there's no reason in sight why he wouldn't. Projected lineup:
Kucherov - Reinhart - Puljujärvi
Vrana - Granlund - Johnson
MacInnis - Kotkaniemi - Coxhead
Burrows - Murray - Dahlgren
Goalies B+
Ales Stezka is one of the top goalies in the league, and will carry the majority of the load with the backup job up for grabs.
4. Seattle Sea Lions
Defense B
Much lies on the shoulders of the extremely talented Julius Honka. 126 points in the two seasons he has played for the Sea Lions. Very mobile defenseman can join every rush and even finish them off. Zach Lauzon is the defensive rock for Seattle, and young Ervasti and Pelletier play in fairly big roles too. Predicted lineup:
Lauzon - Honka
Ervasti - Pelletier
Staios - Jones
Offense B+
Seattle reeled in the biggest fish in free agency once again by signing Tomas Hertl to a one year, 10 million deal. That contract comes with a lot of responsibility obviously and Hertl is expected to be the #1 star on offense the team arguably has been lacking. Mikhail Bitsadze had a great season with 62 points ast center, so he is probably going with newly aquired Hertl n his wing. Look for Albin Grewe to have a big season here too. Predicted lineup:
Tkachuk - Bitsadze - Hertl
Aaltonen - Grewe - Wahlström
Pastujov - Hugg - Mascherin
Crone - Bellerive - Morong
Goalies A-
Adam Brizgala was one of the best goalies last season, so that department is sorted for the Sea Lions.
5. St Louis Blues
Defense B+
Rasmus Dahlin is the best defenseman in the league and he's 24 years old at the moment. The four time all-star had 65 points last season and was awarded with an new 8 year deal with the Blues. Very good,young core for the St Louis defense, but maybe, after losing Pietrangelo, in need of 1-2 more to make it through the season. Projected lineup:
Dahlin - Green
Byram - Farrance
Bigras - Coghlan
Offense B+
Start of a new era on the Blues offense after Tarasenko was traded to the Senators in the summer. Losing a player of that calibre would hurt the production of any team. That said, the Blues offense still features somme very good and proven scorers. Who's going to fill the RW vacancy on the 1st line? Projected lineup:
Schwartz - Teräväinen - Putintsev
Lindholm - Kreider - Walsh
Pastujov - Larkin - Török
Dickinson - Lafontaine - Mikkola
Goalies B+
Raaymakers is the starter and a very good one at that. The Blues also signed the talented Clang, undrafted player from Karlskrona, Sweden.
6. San Jose Sharks
Defense B+
The experienced Ryan Murray can play in any situation and is the obvious leader on the Sharks defense. He had a top showing last year with 56 points and the Sharks will be needing that again in order to have success. Very solid defense with no real weak spots and specialists for both PP and PK. Predicted lineup:
Murray - Clague
Jaros - Sanheim
Boqvist - Zborovsky
Offense B+
Plenty of firepower on the Sharks offense with superstar Josh Ho-Sang leading the way. San Jose pulled off one of the heists of the decade in bringing Ho-Sang from the Stars for the price of a 3rd liner. Mansurov, Senyshyn, Räsänen, Palmieri and young Kaplan form a nice, potent offense for the Sharks. The center position and overall depth are still something of a questionmark. Predicted lineup:
Ho-Sang - Räsänen - Mansurov
Palmieri - Kaplan - Senyshyn
Rowan - Persson - Herzog
Lapin - Sicoly - Guest
The Sharks might even give Palmieri a shot at centering the top line if Räsänen has trouble keeping up.
Goalies C+
Halverson is the starter with Otter, Lappi and Edquist fighting for the backup job. Halverson, despite his obvious talent has not yet managed to play consistently good for a entire season.
7. Vancouver Canucks
Defense B+
The Canucks Swiss army knife Jonathan Drouin can play anywhere, including defense. That's where he is listed on the roster, so that's where we assume he will be starting the season. Jacob Trouba and Thomas Chabot are both seasoned veterans and of very high quality at that. Chabot had his best season to date with 48 points last season. Projected lineup:
Drouin - Chabot
Neill - Pane
Brewer - Trouba
Offense B+
Loads of young and upcoming offense on the Canucks. Leading the pack is Dovar Tinling, the #2 overall pick in 2021, he finished his rookie season with 63 points and is a pretty safe bet to continue in an upwards spiral. The Canucks have the luxury of also having the 2022 #1 overall pick on the roster in Matthew Savoie, he is comfortable both at center and on the wing. Projected lineup:
Virtanen - Tinling - Boeser
Keller - Turris - Sokolov
Lavoie - Deveaux - Tuch
Mäenalanen - Alexeyev - Dmytriw
Goalies C+
Brendan Bonello has the most iNHL experience of the goalies with 30 games, so that will be a interesting point to follow with the Canucks.
8. Chicago Blackhawks
Defense B
Nice young and dynamic defense core for the Blackhawks. Välimäki, Woo, Johansen and Meyn all guys who can skate, move the puck and also take care of the defense. Former 1st rounder Juuso Välimäki had his strongest season to date with 42 points and good defensive numbers too.
Johansen - Välimäki
Graves - Woo
Meyn - Chainey
Offense B+
Young and dynamic, that can be said of the offense also. Quentin Byfield, 21 and Michael La Starza, 19 at center seem to be the future for the Hawks. Captain Robby Fabbri represents the more experienced side of the team and he plays on elite level every night to set the standard for the younger players.
Fabbri - Byfield - Brown
Ritchie - La Starza - Sprong
Roman - McCann - Etem
Pezzetta - Sciarini - Rychel
Goalies B-
We had our doubts about Linus Söderström this time of the year before last season and his showings during the season didn't do much to lift those doubts. The Blackhawks are a playoff team if they get som goaltending.
9. Colorado Avalanche
Defense B+
Shea Theodore is one of the most productive defensemen in the league, 189 points the past three seasons. Other top performers on the defense are Erik Cernak and Rasmus Ristolainen. A great core to build your game around. Projected lineup:
Theodore - Ristolainen
Cernak - Wood
Struble - Middleton
Offense B
Very strong first line led by one of the best wingers in the league, Nathan MacKinnon. Jonathan Huberdeau is the center and Jack Kopacka has emerged as a consistent scorer with back to back 70+ point seasons. Young Chaz Lucius scored 21 goals as a 20 -year old and most likely improve on that this campaign. Projected lineup:
Kopacka - Huberdeau - MacKinnon
Lindberg - Loschiavo - Lucius
Bowers - Dowiak - Eggenberger
Gauthier - Dahlström - Devine
Goalies B+
Only three goalies contracted at the moment, but Amundrud is a top goalie with a save pct over .910 for the past four seasons now.
10. Arizona Coyotes
Defense B+
Oliver Ekman-Larsson is still going strong at 33 as the Coyotes top defenseman. Dante Fabbro and Samuelsson are right up there with him and young Björnfot has established him as a permanent figure on the Coyotes blueline. The bottom pairing looks to be Kyle Capobianco along with some of the rookies. Projected lineup:
Samuelsson - OEL
Björnfot - Fabbro
Capobianco - Vassos
Offense B-
Auston Matthews, the captain and best player on the team is as reliable as a Swiss clock. He keeps turning up night after night putting up great performances. He has played i n all 82 games for five seasons in a row now and in the last four, scored 71-77 points/ season. Talk about consistency. Max Domi had someting of a disappointing season last year with only 45 points. Look for him to return to his usual form. Projected lineup:
Domi - Matthews - Peterson
Andersson - Sakhokiya - Neumann
Letunov - Steenbergen - Ambrosio
Olhaver - Höglander - Valenti
Goalscoring beyond the first line can prove hard to find. Of course the Coyotes can spread it out some by playing Domi 2nd line center.
Goalies C+
Of the four goalies on the roster, Drew DeRidder has the most iNHL experience with 14 games under his belt. Some talented guys, but very inexperienced.
11. Anaheim Ducks
Defense B-
Case McCarthy, the former #1 overall draft pick is a great young talent. The 2-way defenseman had excellent numbers last year. 41 points on the season along with 84 takeaways and 299 shots blocked. Those are elite numbers by the 23-year old. Experienced Adam Larsson is also still of top-4 caliber, Olli Juolevi and Noah Juulsen in the mix too. After those it seems pretty thin with a few young guys looking to squeeze their way into the bottom pairing. Predicted lineup:
Juolevi - McCarthy
Larsson - Juulsen
Prokop - Nässen
Offense B+
Steven Stamkos is back after losing pretty much the entire season with a elbow injury. With a healthy Stamkos the Ducks can still field a pretty good offense with Seguin, Nylander and Pastrnak as top talent. Overall depth is a problem with this team and the management needs to get things sorted soon. Projected lineup:
Nylander - Stamkos - Pastrnak
Roy - Seguin - Gauthier
Gardiner - Virtanen - Merkley
Toporowski - Koch - Deere
Goalies D
Vaccari, Skarek, Matthew and D'orio. All unknown and unproven, time only will tell who is going to be between the pipes for Anaheim.
12. Nashville Predators
Defense B-
Veteran Cody Ceci is the leader on the Nashville backline. Gone are the days of the Subbans and Josis and Nashville addressed this in the draft by drafting two defensemen in the first round. Those guys are still long ways from making a difference. Ceci and Carlo are the only really established defensemen on the roster and the rest might yet change during the season. Late signings brought in Mitch Vande Sompel and Dylan Coghlan to bring up the NSH defense from a C to B- Projected lineup:
Vande Sompel - Ceci
Carlo - Ferrandino
Coghlan - De Jong
Offense B-
The offense is lead by superstar Filip Forsberg, who has had his fair share of injuries the past seasons. Last season was pretty good though, with Forsberg only missing eight games. He scored 63 points and led the team. He is joined by his long time partner in crime, Nail Yakupov, who still is good for 30 goas if all goes to plan. Those two are pretty much the only proven scorers the Preds have on their roster, so new stars need to lit here in order for Nashville to have some success this season. Projected lineup:
Petan - Forsberg - Yakupov
Zinovyev - Newhook - Pu
Poluektov - Zhabreyev - Platzer
Sisik - Dellandrea - Golovatchev
Goalies B+
Markus Ruusu is the Backup for Evan Sarthou, who is an established iNHL -goalie and the Preds will be fine goalie-wise.
13. Minnesota Wild
Defense B-
Anthony DeAngelo is a defenseman in the Paul Coffey -mold and needs the puck on his stick. He scored a whopping 22 goals last season, finishing with 62 total points. Only 5 of those goal were on the PP, and DeAngelo can be a dominating player 5 on 5 due to his excellent skating. 2022 first round pick Seamus Casey in his rookie season looked very much at home in this league and expect a strong showing from him. Projected lineup:
Carlsson - DeAngelo
Lindgren - Casey
Guhle - Geertsen
Offense B
Joel ErikssonEk has had elite production for the last years, 224 points the past three seasons. There the Wild have their offensive leader and on a team friendly contract too. Former 1st round pick Max Jones was brought over from Detroit in the hope that he would find his game in this league at last. Young Connor Lockhart might be looking for that #1 center spot if the Wild don't decide to play JEE at center. Some seasoned veterans in Brendan Gallagher and Jamie Benn will provide nice secondary scoring. Projected lineup:
Eriksson Ek - Lockhart - Benn
Jones - Betts - Gallagher
Wood - Toivola - Bratt
Barratt - Dhooghe - Nättinen
Goalies B+
Carter Hart and Juuse Saros the probable goaltending tandem for Minnesota. Hart had something of a disappointing showing last year, following the promise he showed in his first season in Minny. Saros is a very able backup who can steal the show if Hart can't find his form.
14. Los Angeles Kings
Defense C+
The Kings had a glorius start to last season, but finally faded away without making the playoffs. That start was due to great offense. The defense was a problem, it still is a problem. Seth Jones with 800+ games is the obvious leader on defense and will be playing every other shift all season. Behind him the Kings don't have much to show and they need big performances from guys like Rhett Rhinehart. Projected lineup:
Labbé - Jones
Hague - Rhinehart
Thilander - Neveu
Offense B+
Very good top-6 for the Kings. Rourke Chartier has scored 60+ points three seasons in a row now and pocket sized DeBrincat had a career high 34 goals last season. Gabe Vilardi and Austin Pratt are just getting into their own in the league and the offense certainly won't be a problem for the Kings. Projected lineup:
Chartier - Vilardi - DeBrincat
Rantanen - Pratt - Hoyt
St Laurent - Shvyryov - Glass
Timashov - Gervais - Bracco
Goalies B+
Goalie situation looks good with Vomacka, who played very well for the Flyers last season and Pickard, who has shown promise, but has not yet found a starting job in the league.
15. Dallas Stars
Defense B-
The Stars are in midst of something of a makeover after moving long standing leaders on both defense and offense. Calen Addison has taken over the main playmaker role on the Dallas defense. Joni Tuulola also had 45 points last year, but word is he might have taken a step back in summer training. Projected lineup:
Gildon - Addison
Tuulola - Sidorov
Lehtonen - Mahura
Offense C+
Life after Crosby starts with the 2024/25 season. In the trade with Carolina came Matej Toman, the 23 year old will probably start at 1st line center. 50 points behind many great players with the Hurricanes, the Stars are hoping the increased responsibility in Dallas helps Toman reach new heights Eeli Tolvanen was also a part of the Crosby deal and it will be interesting to see if he can reproduce the 43 goals as a Star. Bashkirov and Poirier also come with expectations. These guys have had great production in the KHL and remains to be seen how that shows in the iNHL. Projected lineup:
Tolvanen - Toman - Dubois
Somppi - White - Poirier
Bashkirov - Perepechayev - Lee
Nussbaumer - Monakhov - Chatham
Goalies B+
Carey Price didn't let his 36 years slow him down last season as he had a brilliant season last year. Evan Smith and Olle Eriksson Ek also looked sharp, so goaltending is sorted.
16. Calgary Flames
Defense B-
Sam Girard had his best season to date with 42 points from the Flames blueline last season. The Flames have a group of solid defensemen, but no real star players here. Should still be solid enough to do well if the team can find ways to put the puck in the net. Projected lineup:
Matheson - Girard
Vala - O'Grady
Carroll - McKeown
Offense C+
The 1st line can very well win the Flames some games, but otherwise the offense seems lacking in proven talent. The Flames need some big stepping up by unexpected player in order to compete for a playoff spot.
B.Bennett - S.Bennett - Saad
Bernhardz - Dunkley - Karnaukhov
Maltsev - Kyrou - Tufte
Murray - Dube - Nordgren
Goalies A-
There are always top goalies in Calgary it seems. Baribeau can most certainly steal some games during the season.