The auto generated power rankings are pretty shit and inaccurate obviously so I'm gonna give my opinion of how teams should be ranked heading into the season as well as bidding grades. Keep in mind this is not a projection of where I think teams will finish. I expect a lot to finish around where they are but this is a combination of how good their roster looks this season with how they did last season if applicable. 1 Carolina Hurricanes Free Contracts: @JClaus33 & @McLxvinn Bidding Grade: A- Carolina leads the power rankings largely because 1. I think Jclaus lost mainly Tommy, Moran, Gerbe, and Spors and added McLxvin, Jakoo, Sharpxo, GoNicsGo and some sneaky depth to position themselves once again to be a tough out in playoffs and 2. I think they were the best team in the east last season and their record was just a product of not caring about the regular season. Jclaus and McLxvin are arguably the best management duo in the league and from what people have said it looks like for the first time in a few seasons he has a true 6 game starter. If i had any concern about this team which I'm sure will be addressed, there is absolutely no way Jclaus goes into another game 7 with Archon on LD. So i expect at some point for a LD to be traded for. 2 Boston Bruins Free Contracts: @T--o--M--M---y & @AyoMoran Bidding Grade: A- Tommy and Moran take over last seasons Panthers team with their only resigns being Roysay and Ols. They made some great trades for Draft picks which set them up nicely with cheap depth players but considering their lack of a core going into bidding I think they did a great job picking up guys like zachjeet and Kjnger to run basically 2 first lines with a third line that has malarkie and holland. Similar to Carolina as one of the best management duos, Tommy and Moran are tough to beat in both the regular season and playoffs so i'd expect them to be a team that goes a pretty long way this season. The two slight concerns i'd have with them is the need for a clear game 7 RD and an upgrade on goalie as I'm not a big fan of MurderMass. 3 Philadelphia Flyers Free Contracts: @Memzyy72 & @Anxietyy29 Bidding Grade: B Memory's Flyers have a bit of a different look this season with Sah moving back to D and no more Blong with the team. I think they are always a team that finds cheap steals and good role players that compliment every line Sah isn't on. I think Sah's line is expected to have Boughs on it which to me at 7.75 is a pretty good contract on this team. I like the adds of Spors, Tie-up, keeping the goalie tandem, and I've heard good things about Willis so we'll see if he can continue what he did in the few games he played last season. I gave Philly a B in bidding because I think he was smart in laying off the guys he wanted once they got to a certain point (musty, newtz) but I don't love the drxplex contract so I think it was kinda hit and miss with that. Still overall good depth adds. I expect them to be really good once again. 4 Arizona Coyotes Free Contracts: @PieR Talent & @BTL_MoTi Bidding Grade: B- The yotes are a fun team because I like their management a lot and think they were set up really well going into bidding, but I also think in some ways their reserved approach left a lot of middle priced forwards available that they either missed on or just didn't target. I like the core of gooch, moti, pier, acey, jyuhn, perf, and the shambles line but because it looks like the shambles line is now their second there's a chance we see some regression this season. I think their goalie tandem looks pretty solid and I see this team grabbing one of the higher playoff spots if they slightly upgrade their third and the shambles line comes through. 5 Calgary Flames (done by Blong67) Free Contracts: @Joffman- & @Dodsy x 17 Bidding Grade: B Following a SCF Run Joff takes over as owner of the Flames with Dods as his gm. This team's defense core is clearly among the top of the league led by Joff and Saucy while picking up a really good 2nd pair in Willee and Reider via bidding. While lacking much top end forward talent aside from Dods and Benny I really like the group they have up front for their contracts, many cheap but solid players who can easily play a top 6 role for under 2M (Casper, Cartsy, Dylbert, Avez) is always nice. In net they brought back Vulkihn and brought in ijdubs. Although Vulkihn can be inconsistent at times he proved himself to be a solid starting goalie in this league. If this teams 3rd line can pull together more regular season wins than the prior season I fully expect this team to be a top 4 team in the west and probably even win the Pacific. 6 Dallas Stars Free Contracts: @Norris Dud & @JaYI77I Bidding Grade: B+ Dud and Jay built a team that looks a lot like last seasons team except it's more built around friends it seems rather than just the best players available. They have some good contracts won in bidding on this team but I think with the loss of freezxr, i don't fully see where they have the same 1A/1B lines like they did last season. They added tdxbz to their D which is a nice add although a little pricey in my opinion but overall their d-core looks pretty similar to last season. I am still undecided on their goalies but Dud has confidence in their backup so it seems like he knows something we don't. Overall, good team and solid bidding depth wise, they should have a good season. 7 San Jose Sharks Free Contracts: @Catigory & @MikeyD I7I Bidding Grade: C The sharks are 7th on my power rankings out of respect for being the cup winners last season. No disrespect to them, I think they lost a lot and don't see them as the 7th best team in the league. Catigory and Mikey is a solid management duo but they have a lot of defence between them 2 and Brydxn that didn't help make up for the loss of Lehk - I don't think poppa fills that whole for them especially at 6m but he definitely might. I like them bringing back Mclub, and I have heard Landamov is a steal at 750k but i am not very confident in their D outside of the 3 i've mentioned so we'll see how it goes with them. They proved everyone wrong last season, I wouldn't be surprised if they did again this season. 8 New Jersey Devils Free Contracts: @Hra-ow & @BasiTheDemon Bidding Grade: B- Hra and Basi made some big trades before bidding to set themselves up nicely for needing basically only third liners and defence. With those two as their 1 and 2 Centres, their lines are largely based around guys they specifically wanted and I think they made some good picks in Viperz and kevvy to fit their respective playstyles. Mxkar is a D pickup I really liked for them and Hra has told me Jrascia is buzzing these days even though I wasn't around when he was good so we'll see how he is. Solid team, some risky bids on defence and goalie. I expect them to be good though. 9 Nashville Predators Free Contracts: @BLong67- & @eastons- Bidding Grade: B Blong and Eastons build a team with a sweaty french second line and 3m Deano to get a lot of wins. If Blong and Eastons play like they did in S18 on Ottawa, this team will be really good. If they don't it's pretty obvious they probably won't be as good. Hedman for their situation is a pretty good pickup, hopefully klokluca pays off, I like the bids of Silva and FrenchMoron on D, and they got some solid 750k pieces to make their high paid salaries fit. I think they have a few slightly overpaid players but overall looks like a pretty good team to me. I expect them to get a middle of the pack playoff spot. 10 Seattle Kraken Free Contracts: @xB-Red94 & @Tidan x 16 Bidding Grade: D Bred is an owner that has gotten better each season. He runs his team very much like an AHL team where he is patient, gathers assets and then uses them to build a deep team. That team was last seasons Kraken team. I have them at 10 because I think rag is a great pickup for them and Tidan is Breds best GM he's had so far. If Meddy plays like he did last season, they will be good once again, and I like the resigns of chelly and RG specifically a lot. I am giving a harsh D bidding rating because I thought that with the addition of both Tidan and Rag and the cheap valuable resigns of RG and Chelly, that Bred would build a roster even better than last seasons. At the moment it doesn't look that way. I think there was an opportunity missed with this one. 11 Winnipeg Jets Free Contracts: @SelkeSean & @Kxv 97 Bidding Grade: B- SelkeSean brings back Kxv to GM and I think there's no team more consistently good but not unreal than Sean's teams - that is why I have them at number 11. Since i've been in the league, Sean's teams have missed playoffs by 3 points once and been eliminated round 1 3 times and lost in the second round the other. He always builds a good team but never quite gets over that hump. I like his goalie bids, and the bids on Lurky and Patches for a dman that reminds me of what Chillos was for them. Giving them a B- because their forward bids leave a few holes. I'm not sold on PLP Kenny being worth 6.5m and I don't love the depth. I think they need a better first or second line whichever Sean isn't on. Still expecting them to be competitive. 12 LA Kings Free Contracts: @Kingerr_- & @bwubzz Bidding Grade: B- Kinger and Bwubz running it back after their dreadful, ridiculous rebuild that hopefully becomes worth it after this season. This team was primely set up before bidding to get some serious players to compliment their riches of cheap contracts. My B- grade is simply because given the fact they needed 3 skaters in bidding, I think they missed on both Morin and Stoss, but I am big fan of Shieldz finally being on a line he shouldn't have to carry. I would've given the Kings pretty much an A if they got a Boughs type player at 7.75, Cohen at 7.5 or Goostav at 8 instead of Morin, especially since they had the cap for it. Overall they probably have one of the deepest teams in the league. Giroux, kinger, ostrich, is a solid top 3 dmen and i see their lines as very much 3 second lines. I expect a great season for them, I just don't have them higher because of how bad they purposely were last season. 13 Tampa Bay Lightning Free Contracts: @I MT98 I & @GoalieGodz Bidding Grade: B MT reunites with GoalieGodz to keep padding on records in Tampa. This team is an interesting one because it's pretty clear they're going all in on a 20-win line. Yardy at 9m is a lot but he makes sense in a lot of ways for MT to bid on at that price. Corbz was a good add in net and I'm a huge fan of Goater. I expect this team to be competing for a playoff spot again because MT has too much heart to not make it and he is great at adjusting on the fly. 14 New York Rangers Free Contracts: @Rosemontbbqhc & @Chuck-_-Morrisse Bidding Grade: B+ Rosemont surprised everyone last season with not only his individual performance but also how well him and Mrxzek did in building a deep rangers team that with Crxsby could've gone on a pretty good playoff run. I think with him and Chuck and the addition of Lefournier who is better than most think, this team plays a boring sweaty defensive style that should win a lot of games. I also think Maltooz is insanely underrated and him and Akon as the 1 and 2 Cs for this team makes them sneaky good. A lot of people think Akon is overpaid but truthfully as far as impact goes as a C, the value is there if you can fit the cap. I like the Blacky contract at 2m and I think they have some solid depth pieces. Hopefully Lefranck is still good. 15 Buffalo Sabres Free Contracts: @Wxldo62 & @X_Smitty30_X Bidding Grade: B+ I've been pretty torn on Buffalo. Idk why it surprises everyone when waldo builds a good team even without many big names on his roster. Assisdragon is a 18+ win C who plays very well with llayton, and they've got the dooley's pregame line that hopefully can build off last seasons success. My worry on this team is their defence being a little risky but i could see them having one of the top D cores if Sycch is worth his bid. Krofto is a top 5 G on the console and apparently this YungWun413 guy is gross i'm not too sure. I put them at 15 because I don't think they're quite top 3 or 4 in the East as they currently are but with some improvements on LW and potentially D, they're back to being a top 3 team that hopefully finally performs come playoffs. 16 Washington Capitals Free Contracts: @Dxhlin & @udca Bidding Grade: C+ Dxhlin takes over Loops' Capitals and brings on Udca to GM for him on an unsurprisingly sweaty french team that I'm sure has chem I don't even know about. Bacon was their big bid and if he performs, he will be the main reason Washington is good this season. Aside from him, I think they overpaid a bit on just about every significant contract they brought in (juicy, fredpel, Callz). I still think they are good players and I'm a fan of owners paying for guys they know well so I hope it works out, I just don't see the true first liners on this team. 17 Minnesota Wild Free Contracts: @xMankii & @Eyekyew Bidding Grade: B- Manki and Eyekyew take over the Dallas team that barely tried last season and stockpiled top picks for a new deserving owner to enjoy. This roster is hard to judge currently because I think they will be a lot better once they bring up their 3 top DPs. First, I think Manki and Eyekyew are a very good management duo. I think Manki has learned a lot from Bred and all the other good owners and managers he's been with and I think Eyekyew is a very underrated dman. Cxuture, Wally and Smurf are probably my 3 favourite bids on that team and then other than that it's hard to say because i'm assuming 2 forwards are getting waived as well as a dman to make room for cellycenter, usc and sevy. If their DPs perform, I expect them to have a real shot of making playoffs. 18 Colorado Avalanche Free Contracts: @Not Greggy & @hoyucky Bidding Grade: B After seasons of complaining, I am very happy Greggy is out of the AHL and not shockingly, he jumps right into owning in the NHL. Greggy and hoofoo are a solid dman management duo that are both good players on their own but i expect this team to add some forward depth at some point during the season. Mooqc is probably their best forward bid value wise aside from Mccutch, and their d has some pretty good depth. Bringing back Wickie as one of the most valuable contracts in the league was a big plus for them going into bidding this season. I think this team either make the playoffs as the 7 or 8 seed or just barely misses. 19 Edmonton Oilers Free Contracts: @Lxppy-- & @Stiifler-11 Bidding Grade: B I've seen some forum posts hating on Edmonton but personally I love what they did this bidding. Especially as a first time owner, Lappy got Stifler late as a GM and I think overall the depth they have leaves them with a lot of options to improve throughout the season. Saindou is a guy that is probably not worth 7 as we saw last season he wasn't worth 6 on Ottawa, but in the right situation he's a very underrated dman that has 20+ win potential. They've got some pretty solid depth on right wing and minus a few overpays I really don't think this team is as bad as some people have predicted. Just gotta move some of that cap around. 20 Detroit Red Wings Free Contracts: @G--P--3 & @kylej83 Bidding Grade: C GP3 is one of the better owners to deal with in this league, builds solid teams and isn't a toxic guy so I'm hoping he does well. I was a little underwhelmed by their bidding as aside from Charmop, they didn't get anyone significant. I definitely expected elfpha and kesselysnipes to be back on this team no matter the cost and but looking at their roster, they have mid-priced players to move around if need be. Kakko is a backup but K-Quinn's stats look good. Don't have too high of expectations for this team as they're currently built but I wouldn't be shocked if they improved a lot as they season goes on. 21 Anaheim Ducks Free Contracts: @toslick & @AbailG93 Bidding Grade: C- Anaheim led by Toslick and AbailG once again after swapping from Colorado is a team that could either be surprisingly good or just barely miss playoffs as they did last season. I think their forward depth is somewhat there. I like Nolan a lot but he's not a carry kinda guy. 7.5 is not the price u pay for a guy who fits best with at least one player that's his skill level. Toslick also paid a lot for some AHLers that might be good idk much about them. Hopefully ChrisTastik is good because he once was and Gwanzie is pretty solid for that price. The rest of the D not too sure about. Top 5 goalie duo if bxlchy is as good as his stats are. 22 Vegas Golden Knights Free Contracts: @BenchedPylon & @Dangs92 Bidding Grade: B- I think Trauma will not have a last place team this season. Going into the season they don't even look crazy bad. Dangs did a good job with bidding for most part although he spent big on a few guys that are overpaid. But, i think this team needed that because dangs can get his friends to play for him whereas Trauma spent 5.5m on Zeidell last season. Their forward depth isn't great but I like the DC bid on D. I don't think they make playoffs but I think it's close. I can't imagine Dangs suffering through a bad season so I imagine much like his WPG takeover for Chelios, they will surprisingly be competing until the last week. 23 Florida Panthers Free Contracts: @Smittyy-91 & @Doranz- Bidding Grade: F Florida gets the F bidding grade because I like smitty and adam and think they can be good just as it stands right now they didn't come through in bidding. Their 1C is crowe? or ckim? or smitty is playing C i'm not sure. Goose is a good add before bidding on forward but i'm not sure what the thought process is bidding 1.25 on Bo and then 1.75 on a goalie that hasn't been all that good in a long time. I don't expect them to finish 23rd in the league, changes will come. They could compete for one of the final playoff spots if they fill in some holes. 24 Pittsburgh Penguins Free Contracts: @Bxshop_- & @l_HOFF_I Bidding Grade: C- Bishop and Hoff built a team of overpriced D gone forward and Elfpha and Sphyze for a combined 11m. To fit all that they ignored dmen. I'm not sure what made this Nxsty guy worth a 2m bid. Is it champo? Idk. No clear starting goalie either. I don't think this team makes playoffs but I think Hoff is a good player so if they do his line has to win 20. 25 New York Islanders Free Contracts: @Law I 97 I & @BRIEREx Bidding Grade: C+ Silky and Smarsh are back together and they recruit Briere to join them in building the Islanders team. I was honestly shocked Briere chose to join them, not that Smxrsh can't build a good team it's more that I think there were better options out there. I am giving the C+ grade because i think there's one too many third liners on this team with jesse and chipy probably having to carry the team. Add in the fact skillzy never makes playoffs, I think it's a pretty interesting team. I like the stammer bid for goalie and jakey on D. 26 Toronto Maple Leafs Free Contracts: @xDoer3 & @DxT Gerbe Bidding Grade: D Doer and Gerbe wouldn't let me have the leafs so I don't like this team. They've got a bunch of friends on this team so the strat was pretty clear. I think their d is below average though, they needed a 5m dman at least. On forward that Gxgne guy is good, Musty slightly overpaid and Newtz is good just overpaid. I like them trading for Turtle but I don't see this team being very good. 27 St Louis Blues Free Contracts: @premierplayer & @Call_me_bingo Bidding Grade: F PP and Bingo is a dream duo. Bingo is a meme but he's funny and he's nowhere near as bad as people make him seem. STL gets the F because 1. Jojo isn't worth 7m 2. Jojo is not a C 3. PP hasn't learned how to not spend on guys who either won't play for him or who aren't worth anywhere near the cap and 4. he forgot about defence, goalies and has I think 5 LWs. 28 Montreal Canadiens Free Contracts: @datsyukmagicman & @Mxnu_l5l Bidding Grade: C- Pucky did a good job in bidding all things considered. He spent big on Nym as everyone expected but if he has any chance of having a good team, he needed Nym. They have very little depth on forward and they have an interesting group of dmen. I don't expect them to be good at all but Nym and Manu will likely have a good season. 29 Vancouver Canucks Free Contracts: @Dradavich Bidding Grade: B The only owner without a GM had a very very good bidding all things considered. If he decided to bid on anyone better than a 3rd line forward I would've honestly given him an A solely because he didn't stupidly overspend on anyone that can't be moved. Crosby should've resigned with memory but oh well that's still a moveable contract. Hriiz on a good deal and gadzookz is funny to have. Just need to find a GM. 30 Chicago Blackhawks Free Contracts: @Tropics_White & @xNexus13 Bidding Grade: D- Tropics is a good guy but he took the getting friends on his team to an extreme when he traded up to 2nd overall to draft tropics garns who from what i've heard is nowhere near worth that pick. He then traded 2 firsts for gweeds, idk about that move either. Similar to STL, Chicago kinda overspent on some forwards that won't last long on this team and Chara did not deserve this after stepping up for dirtydawg last season. TerryOh should have a fun time. 31 Columbus Blue Jackets Free Contracts: @JuulPod- & @Cartzy-_- Bidding Grade: C+ I'd probably rank this team higher if they had good defence. I see all third line d and no expensive goalie to bail them out. Goostav and Jor are two solid forwards and overall I see some good players but I don't think the fit is there with any of them really. 32 Ottawa Senators Free Contracts: @Stxmkos91- & @xLuukkonen1x Bidding Grade: F It's tough to come out of bidding in a good spot with a goalie GM. Stxmkos is a good guy and I like luukonen but no goalie is worth the free contract unless they are 4m and win pretty close to 6 games a week and because of that this team won't be very good. They also overpaid benduguay and put 4.25 on maxbeastmax when greggy could've just resigned him for 2.25. Interesting decisions in Ottawa but first seasons aren't easy.
I look forward to making my LG debut at C for the St Louis Blues. This is the opportunity of a lifetime and I couldn’t be more grateful
