All of those prospect games were fun this past week, huh? With training camps opening this week, we'll finally get a glimpse of what coaches have been pondering all offseason. This will be my final attempt at guessing because we will have a real look at camp groups and line rushes. 

Atlantic

Boston Bruins – The Bruins signed Tanner Jeannot to a big deal over the summer (He got the same number of years that the Predators got draft picks). If your league counts hits, he should be a guy to keep an eye on as they'll give him his minutes since they are paying him a lot of money. With that contract, he might see some front-of-net duties on the power play to get every ounce of juice from him.

Buffalo Sabres – Buffalo paid Ryan McLeod a lot of money to stay and he deserved the raise after setting career highs in every offensive category last season. With that $20-million contract, expect him to get those same minutes and have another 50-point season. Management moved on from JJ Peterka so there will be a lot of offensive minutes to fill, including almost three minutes of powerplay time. If Jack Quinn can stay healthy, he would be a guy to target late in drafts.

Detroit Red Wings – The addition of John Gibson should stabilize this team in net, but it will be the usual suspects up front. The team has had a top-10 powerplay unit each of the last two seasons, so that needs to continue if you want to see the big guys threaten a point-per-game pace.

Florida Panthers – The back-to-back champs are running it back with pretty much the same squad (why would you change anything?). Matthew Tkachuk is hurt to start the year, but with NHL players involved in the Olympics, he should be back around December. If he gets hurt and misses the remainder of the NHL regular season after that, only time will tell. 

Brad Marchand didn't do much in his 10 regular season games with the Panthers (four points), but scored 10 goals and 10 assists for the cats in their postseason run. Without Chucky in the lineup, he'll face tougher competition so I wouldn't expect those type of numbers again (unless he keeps eating those DQ Blizzards).

Montreal Canadiens – The Habs should be one of the more exciting teams this season. A full season of Ivan Demidov is on the horizon and in his small sample size in 2025, anything is possible. 

Patrik Laine is in contract year so could we finally see him play a full year? Every campaign where he has suited up for at least 70 games, he has scored more than 30 goals, so fingers crossed!

Ottawa Senators – A full season of Dylan Cozens, and Ottawa re-signed trade deadline acquisition Fabian Zetterlund which is interesting because he didn't contribute statistically after putting on the Sens sweater, scoring only five points in 26 games (including playoffs). Coaches and management must have really liked his game though and think he will break through with his German teammate Tim Stutzle, so he is one player I am keeping my eye on in camp.

Tampa Bay Lightning – An unfortunate injury caused Oliver Bjorkstrand to miss the end of the year plus the postseason, but he is locked into a top-six role in Tampa Bay so I like his potential value in a potent Lightning offense.

Toronto Maple Leafs – The Leafs are obviously not going to replace Mitch Marner with any one individual. However, with all that cap savings, they were able to bring in some players to help mitigate the loss of talent. Matias Maccelli is a playmaker and will bring some creativity to the ice if he gets lined up with Auston Matthews. Dakota Joshua and Nic Roy scream Craig Berube-type players to me and with their first season with the Leafs on the horizon, I could see them being given the opportunity to succeed. If your league counts peripheral stats or you're in a deeper pool, they would be on my radar late in drafts.

Metro

Carolina Hurricanes – Nikolaj Ehlers came within a point of matching his career high last year during a contract year, coincidence? I don't think so, but time will tell. 

They also signed two of their youngsters, Jackson Blake and Logan Stankoven, to massive extensions. They each still have one year left on their entry-level contracts, so they are a Hurricane for at least nine more years. The team has invested a lot in these two players so look for them to get big opportunities.

Columbus Blue Jackets – Columbus acquired Charlie Coyle and Miles Wood as the Avalanche were looking to clear some cap space. Coyle could see some top-six minutes under Sean Monahan, but he is a pending free agent so it would not shock me to see him score 20 goals and add 30 assists. 

New Jersey Devils – The Devils didn't add any major pieces this offseason, but they need Jack Hughes healthy. Maybe he will be able to convince his brother to move to the Atlantic coast in a couple of years? 

Connor Brown secured a nice deal, but New Jersey had a lot of problems with depth scoring in their bottom-six so he will add some stability to that group.

New York Islanders – New general manager Mathieu Darche only made a couple of moves to his roster this summer. He brought in Jonathan Drouin and Maxim Shabanov. Both players only signed short-term deals, but being new players under a new regime, there will probably be a little bit of pressure to put those two players in favorable situations.

New York Rangers – Artemi Panarin is an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2026, so I don't see any regression in his stats for this season. He'll want to secure one more big contract before the end of his career. If you're paying attention to any of their other moves, the Blue Shirts brought Vladislav Gavrikov, another Russian. They could like the player, but they could also be trying to sway Kirill Kaprizov over to New York next summer, or potentially with an in-season trade? 

Back to Gavrikov, the Rangers didn't pay him to sit on the bench. If your league counts blocks, he could be a nice late round filler with the potential to nab some assists, you could see 100+ blocks/25+ points.

Philadelphia Flyers – Trevor Zegras was one of the bigger trades during the offseason. He is a pending restricted free agent and with the amount of heat he has gotten over the past two-plus years of trade rumors, if he wants a big extension, he is going to have to prove it on the ice this season. Danny Brière will be happy to pay him so he will get the opportunities at the start of the year, the only question is will he be able to take advantage of it? 

Pittsburgh Penguins – Many of the superstars I grew up with are coming up on retirement and a couple of them are on this Pittsburgh team. Evgeni Malkin is on the final year of his deal, and he could go back to Russia to finish his career, but if he wants another NHL deal, he could easily create one with a big season. I obviously don't expect career highs in this contract year, but a return to a point-per-game pace with 25 goals would secure a nice two- or three-year contract somewhere.

Washington Capitals – With Alex Ovechkin securing the goal record last season, he could finish out his contract this year and go home to play in the KHL… or he could keep adding to his total and try and top 1,000 goals. Being the all-time leading goal scorer will secure him another contract if he wants it, but he could ask for a lot more if he continues to light the lamp like he did in 2024-2025.