Stanley Cup contender tiers: Where do all 32 NHL teams fit in?

The seasons are changing and the days are getting shorter. That means hockey season is nearly upon us -- and we should be in for a fascinating one in 2026-27. Going into last season, we wrote that something had to give : Either we would see more of the same after two consecutive Florida Panthers - Edmonton Oilers Stanley Cup Finals ,or someone new was finally going to get a chance to break through. Little did we know just how far things would swing away from the familiar.

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Scoop News DeskNew York · Published Wednesday, September 23, 2026 at 10:43 AM UTCUpdated Wednesday, September 23, 2026 at 12:44 PM UTC

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Now they bring back most of the same group, save for officially moving on from Frederik Andersen at goalie in favor of Cup Final breakout Brandon Bussi and Pyotr Kochetkov . And there are reasons to think the Panthers can do a classic "gap year" turnaround -- ranging from the offseason acquisition of Brady Tkachuk (uniting with brother Matthew ) to the return of Aleksander Barkov from the knee injury that cost him all of 2025-26, among many, many injured Cats from a year ago.

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