With the start of the 2024 NHL Regular Season almost underway, the Metropolitan Division is looking to make its mark on the league. With certain teams upgrading over the offseason, and some even downgrading, this should be an extremely competitive division. How these teams will perform this season is still an uncertainty, but one can speculate how they might look with regard to their rosters.

Here is a ranking of each Metropolitan team heading into the 2024 season:

#8: Columbus Blue jackets

The Blue Jackets remain one of the most frustrating teams in the NHL. Every year it seems like their rebuild is finally going to pan out, but a disappointing season prolongs it another year. It’s especially frustrating because Columbus does have talent on their roster. Adam Fantilli, the third overall pick in last year’s draft, should be their star player for years to come. Zach Werenski remains one of the leagues most underrated defenseman, as he was almost a point per game player last season (even with a lingering injury). Boone Jenner, Elvis Merzlikins, and newcomer Sean Monahan, are all more than capable of being servicable guys but the team can never cross the threshold of being a respected team in this league.

The tragic passing of Johnny Gaudreau was a huge loss to both the team and the Columbus community. The Blue Jackets have something to play for this season, which is why this year the team might finally prove to the NHL world that they are not “a rebuilding team” anymore.

#7: Philadelphia Flyers

Like Columbus, the Philadelphia Flyers are known to be frustrating. The team lacks depth on both sides of the puck, and have arguably the worst goalie situation in the NHL. Philadelphia thought that they had something in goaltender Carter Hart, but off the ice issues made the team cut ties with him. There is also the ugly situation of Cutter Gauthier, who was selected fifth overall in the 2022 NHL Draft, but refused to sign with the Flyers. He was later traded to the Anaheim Ducks. Despite these losses, Philadelphia has some pieces to work with. Travis Konecny and Owen Tippett are going to lead the way on offense, as guys like Jamie Drysdale, Travis Sanheim, and Cam York will hopefully continue to perform on defense.

There is also Matvei Michkov, an incoming rookie who has mightily impressed the NHL with his skating abilities. He even scored the game winning overtime goal in Philadelphia’s latest preseason game against the Boston Bruins.

The Flyers are hoping that Michkov can turn around this franchise, similar to what Connor Bedard is trying to do in Chicago.

#6: Washington capitals

Washington did a lot of work during free agency this year. The Capitals added new players to the team such as Jakob Chychrun, Pierre-Luc Dubois, and Andrew Mangiapane. This adds to an already great roster with Alex Ovechkin, Tom Wilson, and John Carlson.

The pieces are here for Washington to be a good team. Last season they were able to sneak into the playoffs, where they inevitably got demolished by the powerhouse New York Rangers; getting swept in four games. This offseason they did everything in their power to limit that happening again. The only problem for the team? They actually have to make the playoffs this year for that to happen. With other teams in the division seemingly getting better, the Capitals have a lot of competition if they want to make a final wild card spot. They should be hoping that the assets in which they used on upgrading their team this season, should bring the team more success than that of which they had last year.

Alex Ovechkin is now only 41 goals away from breaking the great Wayne Gretzky’s NHL goal record. If he is on a mission to accomplish that this season, then this current Washington squad’s success is going to fall on the shoulders of one of the best players of this generation.

#5: Pittsburgh penguins

Like Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby is a generational player. Now 37 years old, Crosby isn’t the same player that he was a few seasons ago, but he’s still one of the best in the league. That’s pretty much the Penguins as a whole at the moment. They are a very good NHL team, and will wind up showcasing that this season, but they are extremely old. Statistically speaking, they are the oldest team in the NHL, which makes sense with players such as Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, and Erik Karlsson still on the roster.

Nevertheless, this team almost willed themselves into the playoffs last season. There is a lot of playoff experience among the entire team, and if they get a shot at competing for a Stanley Cup, they are a force to be reckoned with. The depth is not great on the Penguins, but it doesn’t matter when they have a phenomenal top six in their forward lines. Crosby is going to want to win another trophy with the Penguins before he calls it quits in Pittsburgh, and this year might be the one where he strives to get it done.

#4: New York Islanders

The Islanders are an interesting team. They were able to make the playoffs last season after a fairly successful regular season campaign, but were quickly brought back to reality by the Carolina Hurricanes. After all, it seems like the team does have their own issues with winning in the playoffs, or better yet, winning meaningful games. However, that doesn’t mean that they don’t have what it takes to become one of the top teams.

The team’s top line of Mat Barzal, Bo Horvat, and Anthony Duclair, whom they picked up in free agency, makes up one of best lines in the Metro Division. Brock Nelson is an elite goalscorer, Noah Dobson cemented himself as a top defenseman in the NHL, and Ilya Sorokin is widely regarded as a top five goaltender. The pieces are here for New York.

Will this be the year that something changes with the New York Islanders? Hopefully a full season of Head Coach Patrick Roy will prove to be what this team needed all along.

#3: Carolina Hurricanes

The Carolina Hurricanes did not have a great offseason, nor could they because of the contract situations on the team. As multiple players were waiting to get re-signed, Carolina had to unload a lot of them. Some notable players that left the team over the summer are Jake Guentzel, Teuvo Teravainen, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Brady Skjei, and Brett Pesce. Those are five extremely good players that the Hurricanes let walk because they didn’t have the funds to keep them on the team.

Despite the losses, Carolina still has a great squad. Their top line of Andrei Svechnikov, Sebastian Aho, and Seth Jarvis makes a case for one of the best in the NHL. Jaccob Slavin and Brent Burns are a shutdown defensive unit. Andersen is an excellent goaltender, and their special teams are one of the best, not just in their division, but in the entire league.

Sprinkle in a genius head coach that is Rod Brind’Amour, and this team is constantly competing for first place in the Metro. This year should be more or less the same.

#2: New Jersey devils

In contrast to what the Carolina Hurricanes did over the offseason, the New Jersey Devils completely upgraded. New Jersey’s biggest issue over the past few seasons has been goalie play, so they combated that by acquiring Jacob Markstrom from the Calgary Flames. Markstrom is coming off a season where he posted a .905 save percentage on a struggling Flames team.

New Jersey also went out and got Brett Pesce from the Carolina Hurricanes; adding to their defense. The additions of Markstrom and Pesce will hopefully put this team into the same conversation as the only team ahead of them on this list.

The Devils already have Jack Hughes, who was the Hart Trophy favorite before he got hurt at the beginning of the season. Jesper Bratt and Nico Hischier are turning into star players, and the defense is heavily respected. This is a team to be on the lookout for in terms of who is winning the Metro.

#1: New York rangers

There aren’t many holes on this current Rangers team. New York was the best team in the regular season last year, winning the President’s Trophy in the process. While this upcoming season might not be as productive for the Rangers, they’ll most likely still be pretty close to finishing the regular season in the same fashion. How could they not?

Igor Shesterkin is arguably the best goalie in the league. Artemi Panarin was in the Hart Trophy conversation all of last season. Adam Fox is one of the best defensemen in the NHL. New York also has star players in Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider, Vincent Trocheck, and Alexis Lafreniere. The team is absolutely loaded from top to bottom.

The Rangers special team units are some of the best in the league, and Head Coach Peter Laviolette is doing an excellent job at pairing some of these players together. It’s very hard to see a situation where the Rangers don’t finish first again in the Metro.

It’s still way too early to predict how each of these teams are going to perform this season. The only thing that the NHL world can do at this point, is get excited about the action-packed season that is about to be underway.