Metropolitan Division Rankings Post Free Agency

The metropolitan division has always been a tight race with fierce rivalries. This year, the Rangers won the Metropolitan Division and the President's Trophy as they had the best regular season in the NHL. However, this offseason, numerous teams in the division made big-time splashes to climb up the ranks. Here are my metropolitan division power rankings heading into the 2024–2025 NHL season.

1. New Jersey Devils

The Devils are coming off a nightmare of a season where they finished 7th in the division with 81 points after coming off a season in which they won a playoff round against the New York Rangers. The expectations were high last year for this team, but their young blue line and failure at the goaltender position killed them. The Devils had a team save percentage of.886%, which is not going to win many games.

General Manager Tom Fitzgerald had his hands full, but this offseason, he made the Devils Stanley Cup contenders.

As mentioned, the goaltending was not acceptable, so going back to the trade deadline, Fitzgerald got his backup goalie for this upcoming season in veteran Jake Allen for a 2025 third-round draft pick. Then he would go out and get the starter in Jacob Markstrom for Kevin Bahl and a 2025 1st round pick. The goaltending needed to be addressed, and Markstrom coming off a season where he had a 2.78 goals against average and.905 save percentage on a struggling Calgary Flames team is going to make a major difference in wins and losses.

The blue line for the Devils was too young last year, and changes were going to happen. Losing star defenseman Dougie Hamilton took a toll on the team, and getting him back is an addition in itself. John Marino was shipped to the Utah Hockey Club for a couple of second-round picks. The free agent market brought in Brett Pesce from the Carolina Hurricanes and Brendon Dillion from the Winnipeg Jets.

One sneaky good addition was bringing in another Hurricane in Stefan Noesen, a bottom-6 player who scored 14 goals last year.

The star power is there in New Jersey with Jack Hughes, Jesper Bratt, and Timo Meier, and the young guys like Luke Hughes are only going to make strides in their game. If the Devils can get league-average goaltending, they will be a lock to make the playoffs and a dangerous team when April comes around.

2. New York Rangers

The Rangers had a very interesting offseason, to say the least. After losing in the conference finals for the second time in the last three seasons, Rangers fans wanted General Manager Chris Dury to make some bold moves to get the team over the hump. Fans would be very disappointed as the team’s biggest free agent signing was a 4th line center in Sam Carrick, who will replace Barclay Goodrow as he was picked up on waivers by the San Jose Sharks.

Although the free agent signings by the Rangers were a bit underwhelming, Dury brought in a top-6 winger in Reilly Smith via trade from the Pittsburgh Penguins. Smith is a former Stanley Cup champion with the Las Vegas Golden Knights who struggled in Pittsburgh this year to find his game. Potentially being on a line with Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad will elevate Smith's game in the Big Apple.

These moves were overshadowed by the drama surrounding Rangers captain Jacob Trouba. Dury wanted to create a way to make a hefty move as Trouba did not play his best hockey in the regular season or postseason. This was the move to make in trading the captain, who has an $8 million cap hit. Reportedly, there was a deal in place to send Trouba to the Detriot Red Wings, but Trouba vetoed the trade to stay in New York.

Despite the lack of significant change, the Rangers are still an elite hockey team led by the best goalie in the world, Igor Shesterkin. With Alexis Lafrenière taking the next step in his game with 28 goals this past year and Artemi Panarin coming off a 120-point season, the Rangers are most definitely a team to look out for, but to get over the hump, a trade or two may be needed at the trade deadline if their off-season moves are complete.

3. Carolina Hurricanes

Simply put, the Hurricanes had an offseason to forget. Before the draft and free agency kicked in, there was a significant change in the front office. After six years as General Manager of the Hurricanes, Don Waddell moved on to the Columbus Blue Jackets, and his replacement would come within the organization with Eric Tulsky. Tulsky has been with the Hurricanes front office for 10 years, so there was no surprise with this hire. The Hurricanes had another great season but, yet again, were eliminated before making the Stanley Cup final. Tulsky, in his first off-season as general manager, had to help this team find a way to have success in the playoffs, though it's fair to say this team took a step back.

The Canes went all in at the trade deadline and acquired the best player available, Jake Guentzel, from the Pittsburgh Penguins. Guentzel continued his dominant play in Carolina; in 17 games, he had 25 points, with 8 of those being goals. Trading for Guentzel came with the risk that he was in the last year of his expiring contract. As the days got closer to free agency, it appeared the Canes and Guentzel would come to a contract agreement. That would not be the case. Sooner or later, the Canes would send the negation rights to the Tampa Bay Lightning to make Guentzel a member of the Lightning for the next 7 years.

This would soon be the domino effect as the Canes would continue to lose big pieces from their team as defenseman Brett Pesce signed in New Jersey, defenseman Brady Skjei would go to Nashville, and forward Teuvo Teravainen would return to Chicago. Although Tulsky was able to bring back Jordan Martinook and get a top-4 D man in Sean Walker.

The Canes will still be a great regular-season team as they always are, but to win in the postseason, you need a star player to take over games, and the Canes don’t have that, and with that, they lost big parts of their team that will be hard to recover from going into next year.

4. Pittsburgh Penguins

The Penguins had yet another disaster of a season after General Manager Kyle Dubas went all in last year, acquiring three-time Norris Trophy-winning defenseman Erik Karlsson, extending goaltender Tristan Jarry, and giving a six-year contract to defenseman Ryan Graves. Despite the last-ditch effort to get one more Stanley Cup run from the core players, the Pens would miss the playoffs for a second straight season.

This offseason, Dubas would take a step back, and it was clear from the moves made that the Penguins were headed towards a mini-rebuild while holding onto the three cornerstone players of the franchise: Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang. Going back to the Guentzel trade, Dubas has made it his goal to collect draft capital to rebuild a dire farm system and sign players to still stay competitive while Crosby is still playing at an elite level.

As Jeff Carter retired and Lars Eller is better off in a 4th-line center role, the Penguins needed a 3rd-line center, and for cash considerations, they would get a veteran in Kevin Hayes and a 2nd-round pick in 2025 from the St. Louis Blues. A common theme in free agency was that Dubas signed players to one- to two-year contracts. To help a brutal bottom six from last year, he would sign winger Anthony Beauvillier and bring in more center depth with Blake Lizotte. On the blue line, the Pens lost Pierre-Olivier Joseph and brought in veteran Matt Grzelcyk from the Boston Bruins.

Despite these moves being a little bit of a letdown considering how good Sidney Crosby is still playing, the Pens could be a playoff team if a lot goes right. First things first, their powerplay needs to improve after finishing 30th in the league at 15.2%. It will be very intriguing to see how much the core has left in the tank, and Dubas and the Pens are asking a lot of the big three again if they want to be a playoff team.

5. Washington Capitals

he Washington Capitals were very busy this offseason after getting swept by the Rangers in the first round. The Capitals, led by General Manager Chris Patrick, put together a creative retool and rebuild quickly that will make the Capitals a much more competitive team despite making the playoffs this past season. The moves will also help Alex Ovechkin in the midst of chasing the all-time goal record, where he is currently 41 goals away.

Many of the additions to the Caps came via trade. First, starting with the blockbuster acquisition of Pierre-Luc Dubois from the Kings for goaltender Darcy Kuemper. Dubois is coming off a disappointing season with a huge cap hit of $8.5 million for the next 7 years. Though at age 26, this could be worth the risk, as it’s rare to find a top-line center with this level of talent. Dubois has shown he can produce at a high level with three 60-point-plus seasons and three seasons of having more than 25 goals. Trading away Darcy Kuemper was nice work from general manager Chris Patrick. Kuemper is coming off his worst season with an 890 save percentage, and he is only getting older at 34 years old. Moving the $5 million cap hit aloud for this deal to take place.

The Caps were not down yet, as they would get more help in the top 6 and the blue line. John Carlson did not have much to work with last year, and now pairing him up with Jakob Chychrun to only have to give up Nick Jensen and a third-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft to Ottawa is great work. The next move would be to trade a second-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft for forward Andrew Mangiapane, who had 14 goals this past year and a career-best 35 two years ago.

In the free agent market, the big signing was adding more to the blue line with Matt Roy, attaching him to a 6-year contract with an average annual value of $5.75 million.

The Capitals looked slow at times on the ice during the season, but with the additions made, they will be faster and be able to score goals throughout the line-up. They will be fighting for a wild card spot or third place in the division until the end of the season, with a chance to get in.

6. Philadelphia Flyers

The Flyers had a quiet off-season as they are still in the building blocks of their rebuild. Head coach John Tortorella did a terrific job with this team last year as many and the Flyers being out of playoff contention by December. That was not the case as the Flyers looked like a lock to make the playoffs but then would go 4-8-3 in their last 15 games and miss the playoffs by 4 points.

There is a lot to be excited about for this upcoming season. Starting with top prospect Matvei Michkov coming from Russia after signing a three-year entry-level contract. At only 19 years old he has a chance to become the next great Flyer. Goaltender Ivan Fedotov will also look to improve after getting some action to close out the season with the Flyers.

In the free agent market, there wasn't all that much action as they would re-sign forward Bobby Brink and defenseman Egor Zamula.

It will be hard to be as competitive as they were last year, but Tortorella will have his guys playing hard every night. Forwards Travis Konecny who was nearly a point-per-game player last year and Owen Tippett who signed an 8-year contract extension with 28 goals last year will only get better.

The Flyers will have a tough time making the playoffs, however, the building blocks are coming together in Philadelphia to become a consistent playoff team in a couple of years.

7. New York Islanders

The Islanders somehow found their way to finish third in the division this past year, but were eliminated by the Hurricanes for the second year in a row in the first round. Since 2021, when the Islanders were a win away from making the Stanley Cup Final, this team has been complacent. At the helm is General Manager Lou Lamoriello, and for another off-season, this team is right back in the middle. Too good to get a high draft pick and good enough to make the playoffs but not be in contention.

The roster has talent without a doubt in Mathew Barzal, Brock Nelson, Bo Horvat, Anders Lee, and a coming-out party from defenseman Noah Dobson, who had 70 points in 79 games. They also have two great goalies. Although Ilya Sorokin had a down year for his standards with a 3.03 goal against average, Semyon Varlamov finished the season, which was a big reason why the Islanders made the postseason. These players can carry a team to the playoffs, but that's the ceiling for the roster.

In free agency, Lou Lamoriello really didn't do all that much, bringing in Anthony Duclair on a 4-year contract to help on the first line. Duclair is a very solid top-6 player who had 42 points in 73 games last season. This isn't enough to bring the Islanders from pretenders to contenders.

As head coach Patrick Roy will have an entire offseason to get the most out of this roster after being hired in the middle of the season last year, it will be interesting if he can figure out a way for the Islanders to compete to change the perception of the team.

8. Columbus Bluejackets

The Bluejackets have had a hard time finding ways to win, and it won't get any better this coming season.

First things first, the Bluejackets brought in a new general manager, Don Wadell, who replaced Jarmo Kekalainen after 11 failing seasons. Wadell would then let head coach Pascal Vincent go, and the search is still going on.

Wadell has his hands full with a team with lots of young talent and veteran players locked up, such as Johnny Gaudreau, who has not played like a $9.75 million-per-year player recently. Wadell is also going to trade Patrick Laine, who is ready for a fresh start in his career.

With the 2nd overall pick last year, Adam Fantilli, getting a year under his belt, he will help this team significantly. With that, more center depth was brought in via free agency, with Sean Monahan signing a five-year, $27.5 million contract. This move is a bit confusing considering the team is not good enough to compete and still needs draft capital and young talent to get competitive in a few years, with their franchise player being Fantilli. In the goal, there are big concerns, as Elvis Merzlikins is not happy in Columbus and Daniil Tarasov is not an NHL starting goaltender.

There has been major turnover in Columbus, and it's going to take more time to get to winning ways. The Bluejackets are headed toward another frustrating year.

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