Where it once was the NHL’s most competitive division, the Metropolitan Division is now on a level with the Pacific Division as the league’s two least competitive divisions. But this shouldn’t be interpreted as a total rip job on the Metro division. Because when you read this article, you’ll see that the Metro is going to be a tougher division this coming season than it was last year.
In this short THN.com series, we’re taking an educated guess at how each NHL division will play out in this regular season. Below, you’ll find this writer’s rankings of the Metropolitan Division; You’ll also see where each Metro Division team was placed in The Hockey News’ Yearbook & Fantasy Guide 2025, and their odds of being Metropolitan Division winners, per BetMGM.
1. Carolina Hurricanes
The Hockey News Yearbook Division Rank: 1st
BetMGM Metropolitan Division Winner Odds: 2.55 (+120)
Why I’ve Ranked Them First: For a good long while now, the Hurricanes have been a favorite of media and fans to go far in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Unfortunately, the furthest Carolina has gone in the playoffs has been the Eastern Conference final. And when they got there, the Hurricanes have not performed well, winning exactly one game in three third-round series combined since 2018-19.
You can see why the pressure on ‘Canes GM Erik Tulskly is intense, and why he went out and spent his salary cap space wisely; first, he signed a high-end scoring winger in former Winnipeg Jets sniper Nikolaj Ehlers. And with some veteran departures on defense (Brent Burns, Dmitry Orlov), Tulsky traded for New York Rangers defenseman K’Andre Miller. These two acquisitions will add to Carolina’s depth, but the bar for the team is now extremely high. And they still have $10.6 million in cap space. The Hurricanes are fast, slick and serious, and this is a year that could very well see them winning the Metro Division and getting past the third round. They’re an ongoing experiment of Tulsky’s, and they need to break through – and make it past the conference final – if they’re to justify Tulsky’s experiment.
Why I Could Be Wrong: The Hurricanes may be playing with fire if Ehlers is injured – and that’s often, as he’s only played one 82-game season since 2018-19. And there may not be any difference-maker player available to them via trades and free agency. And this ‘Canes group – even with the terrific coaching of Rod Brind’Amour – simply hasn’t delivered as it tried to make the jump into the Stanley Cup championship round.
Also, we’re not 100 percent sold on Miller being the top-paid defenseman on a Cup-winning team. True No. 1 D-man Jaccob Slavin earns $6.39-million for the next eight years – an astonishingly great number from a team-friendly perspective – and somehow, Miller signed for $7.5-million-per-season. And now you know why some are seeing cracks in the structure of the Hurricanes. Carolina can’t afford to struggle all year and flip a switch at the start of the post-season. And they sure can’t afford to lose early in the playoffs or once again fail to produce in the Eastern final. They’re a great team, but they now need to prove they’re as great as they’re made out to be.
2. Washington Capitals
The Hockey News Yearbook Division Rank: 3rd
BetMGM Metropolitan Division Winner Odds: 5.75 (+475)
Why I’ve Ranked Them Second: The Capitals surprised more than a few observers last year by storming out of the gate. They went 8-2-0 at the start of the season; then, they went 21-6-2 by mid-December; and by the third week of March, they went 47-15-8. Led by the reigning Jack Adams Award winner Spencer Carbery, the Caps have proven to be relentless on offense, and mobile on defense.
They eventually wilted in the second round of the playoffs against Carolina, but Washington managed to be excellent for a long stretch of time last season. They didn’t finish the season well, but you can say that about 30 other teams in the league. So the Capitals need a statement season, announcing that last season’s dominance is going to be expected throughout every season moving forward. And the way you start doing that is to thrive in the regular-season and set up home-ice advantage in the playoffs. Even if the Caps slip a little in the Metro standings, they’re still going to be a team to keep your eyes on.
Why I Could Be Wrong: Washington’s defense corps is regarded as one of the NHL’s best, and they’ve got solid depth just about everywhere. But the Capitals are like most other teams in that they can’t afford to be bitten hard by the injury bug. Washington indeed had nine players with at least 14 goals last year – and seven players with 20 goals or more – but a catastrophic injury to one of the Caps’ key players, and Washington could find itself slipping down the Metro standings.
As well, while the Capitals had strong goaltending in particular from Logan Thompson, who went 31-6-6 last year and who posted a .910 save percentage and a 2.49 goals-against average. Meanwhile, Thompson’s tandem-mate, Charlie Lindgren, put up sub-par individual numbers (including an .896 SP), but still went 20-14-3. What happens if Thompson’s SP falls below .900? You’d have to think a slide down the standings could happen for Washington in that scenario. So the Caps might fall to third or fourth in the Metro, but Washington is all but guaranteed to be a playoff lock.
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3. New Jersey Devils
The Hockey News Yearbook Division Rank: 2nd
BetMGM Metropolitan Division Winner Odds: 4.60 (+360)
Why I’ve Ranked Them Third: After last season’s disappointing end – losing meekly to the Hurricanes in a five-game Round 1 victory for the Hurricanes – the Devils had some soul-searching to do. But while New Jersey GM Tom Fitzgerald promised change, he also kept much of the lineup together. Signing free agents, including former Edmonton Oiler Connor Brown and former Dallas Stars winger Evgenii Dadonov, and re-signing backup goalie Jake Allen were important moves, and the type of moves that show Fitzgerald still believes in his core.
We’re not here to tell you Fitzgerald hit home run after home run with his lineup changes. But when healthy, he’s still got a lot of talent to work with in New Jersey. Whether it’s Jack and Luke Hughes, Dougie Hamilton, Nico Hischier or Jesper Bratt, the Devils benefit from some Grade-A talent, and they’re undoubtedly a playoff team this season. But that won’t be enough to satisfy Fitzgerald. The Devils need to play with conviction and lay it all on the line, because if things don’t go well for them in the post-season, they’ll be facing significant roster change. That should motivate them to be a lock for the playoffs, even if they don’t finish with home-ice advantage.
Why I Could Be Wrong: The injury bug has proven to be this Devils team’s biggest adversary in recent memory, with Jack Hughes, Hamilton and winger Ondrej Palat all missing a considerable amount of time. If any of those players – or any of New Jersey’s other top talents – is knocked out of the lineup for weeks or months, the Devils’ hold on third place could slip, and they could be faced with earning a wild card berth. Not ideal, but that’s what injuries do to you.
We could be wrong about New Jersey’s resilience in the face of cornerstone players on the injury reserve, but the Devils have managed to be a playoff team regardless of who’s been on the ice. Even if we’re wrong about New Jersey finishing third in the Metro, we still see them as being deep enough and skilled enough to assert themselves as a year-in, year-out playoff team.
4. Columbus Blue Jackets
The Hockey News Yearbook Division Rank: 6th
BetMGM Metropolitan Division Winner Odds: 31.00 (+3000)
Why I’ve Ranked Them Fourth: Every year, there’s one team you feel compelled to take a chance on in your NHL predictions. And for us, that team is the Blue Jackets. Columbus may not jump out as a full-on Cup threat at this point in their competitive trajectory, but from this writer’s perspective, they look good to get back into the playoffs for the first time since 2019-20.
It isn’t just that the Blue Jackets have youngsters maturing into needle-movers at the NHL level. It’s that there’s a genuine competition for top spots on the team, and that leads to a team actively pushing itself to be better. Columbus’ defense corps is quietly quite formidable with superstar Zach Werenski leading the way, and if starting goalie Elvis Merzlikins has a rebound year – not a guarantee, but still a possibility – the Jackets can end their playoff drought and send a public message that they’re headed to new levels. That journey actively begins with finishing in a playoff spot this season. And that’s our hunch for Columbus.
Why I Could Be Wrong: For one reason or another, the Blue Jackets haven’t spent to the salary cap upper ceiling, leaving themselves $15.5-million in cap space. Does that frustrate Columbus fans? We believe it should. If you’re a young team trying to take that next competitive step, you want all the help you can get. And leaving so much cap space on the table speaks to one of two situations – either ownership doesn’t want to spend to the ceiling, or GM Don Waddell is strategically hanging on to the cap space to spend at next year’s free-agent bonanza. Needless to say, one of those situations is a lot better than the other one.
Making a major jump in any NHL division is extremely difficult. And if that attendant pressure overwhelms Columbus’ youngsters, the ensuing results won’t be pretty this year. The Blue Jackets have struggled to put it all together and find a way to thrive in the East, but our guesstimate on the Jackets is exactly that – a guess. It’s as possible as anything that Columbus falters and continues its playoff drought, but the optimistic side of us still believes the Blue Jackets will take an important step next year.
5. New York Rangers
The Hockey News Yearbook Division Rank: 4th
BetMGM Metropolitan Division Winner Odds: 6.50 (+550)
Why I’ve Ranked Them Fifth: The Rangers did have a solid off-season, adding veteran first-pair defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov via free agency. But is Gavrikov going to put this Blueshirts team on his back and carry them back to the top of the Metro? No, no, he won’t. So while the Rangers won’t be as bad as they were last season, it’s going to be extremely difficult for them to quickly and easily be a playoff team again. And in fact, they may fall short of that goal.
Although most Rangers players are under contract for at least the next two seasons, there’s a sense of uncertainty about this Rangers team. It could be because one player who will be a UFA next summer is superstar left winger Artemi Panarin. The Russian sniper had a down season by his standards last year, and although he’s got all the motivation in the world to turn things around, he could struggle again. And that would almost certainly spell doom for the Rangers’ playoff hopes.
Why I Could Be Wrong: Rangers GM Chris Drury got a contract extension at the end of last season. So he’s convinced team ownership that he can turn around the Rangers’ fortunes and get the team back to its level in 2023-24. So who knows – perhaps Drury has gotten it all right, and the Blueshirts will be a playoff team once again.
And maybe this new iteration of the Rangers has more grit and determination to it than recent Rangers teams have had in them. Maybe star goalie Igor Shesterkin ratchets his game back to his 2021-22 level, when he posted a .935 SP in 53 appearances. That’s the kind of play that would make life much easier for Shesterkin’s Rangers teammates. And with new coach Mike Sullivan providing structure and discipline in his players, the Rangers could surge in the standings and return themselves to a truly elite level.
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6. Philadelphia Flyers
The Hockey News Yearbook Division Rank: 5th
BetMGM Metropolitan Division Winner Odds: 36.00 (+3500)
Why I’ve Ranked Them Sixth: The Flyers have been an intriguing experiment for GM Daniel Briere, with the former star Flyers center patiently doing the right thing and building slowly through the draft. That means accepting holes in the roster and finding ways to mitigate problems as Philadelphia brass keeps its eyes on the long term.
Briere was one of the more active GMs this summer, signing former Montreal Canadiens center Christian Dvorak to a one-year deal and trading with the Anaheim Ducks for center Trevor Zegras. But while the Flyers are a team to keep your eye on, they’re still well behind the majority of the Metro, and they’re going to need another couple of years of growing pains before they can reliably be a playoff squad.
Why I Could Be Wrong: Some teams have the luxury of playing nearly pressure-free, and the Flyers are one of them. With new coach Rick Tocchet coming in and providing confidence to his players, Philadelphia’s core component players are going to experience great growth. There’s lots to like about this Flyers team, but we say that knowing it will take time and seasoning for this franchise to be guaranteed locks for the playoffs year-in and year-out.
The big question right now is the Flyers’ goaltending situation. Briere signed veteran Dan Vladar to come in and help make a difference in net. But the most games Vladar has played in a single season is 30. He’s not going to stand on his head for this team or any other team. Thus, it’s definitely possible that the Flyers fall to seventh or eighth spot in the Metro. It’s a rocky road ahead for them, and even if Briere is making all the right moves to make this franchise relevant again, it’s going to take time and patience to realize this vision.
7. Pittsburgh Penguins
The Hockey News Yearbook Division Rank: 8th
BetMGM Metropolitan Division Winner Odds: 101.00 (+10000)
Why I’ve Ranked Them Seventh: It really is astonishing – and worth a whole chapter in the history books – that the Penguins have employed Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang for their entire careers, and they’ve missed the playoffs for the past three seasons. It takes a special kind of demoralizing sequence like that to make you aware that nothing is guaranteed in professional sports.
With rookie coach Dan Muse hired to help this Penguins team transition into a regular playoff team, Pittsburgh is almost certainly going to stumble for stretches – some of them, lengthy stretches. The Pens are in a taxing situation right now, so imagining they’ll somehow turn it all around and return to the playoffs is also a stretch. Pittsburgh needs to go in one situation or another – either they’re going all-in with Crosby/Malkin/Letang/, or they’re all about the future, because serving two masters is devoting not enough time to either. And that will likely lead to another disappointing season for the Pens.
Why I Could Be Wrong: Can you really bet it all that Crosby is going to end his career playing on a Penguins team that was feeble and not talented enough to keep pace with the league’s true top teams? We’re not sure that he’ll suffer that fate. He may not be ready to be traded just yet, but Crosby does control his future, and he’d command a king’s ransom in any trade, so it would ultimately benefit the Penguins to move Crosby to the highest bidder. Is it a pipe dream? Probably. But never say never.
Meanwhile, if Muse sparks the Penguins to an unexpectedly strong start, Pens GM Kyle Dubas has $13-million in cap space to use to bulk up Pittsburgh’s roster for what will almost surely be the last run with their Hockey-Hall-of-Fame core. The Penguins are desperate enough to pull off a shocker, and the Pens’ players might have enough gas to make this Pittsburgh team a post-season team.
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8. New York Islanders
The Hockey News Yearbook Division Rank: 7th
BetMGM Metropolitan Division Winner Odds: 31.00 (+3000)
Why I’ve Ranked Them Eighth: This is one of those picks that at first may look like a condemnation of a franchise or its coaching and management. But we believe the Islanders are on the right road to eventually be a first-rate, constant Cup threat. It’s just going to take a long road for them to get there.
That road more or less began when the Isles won this year’s draft lottery and selected defenseman Matthew Schaefer to be a cornerstone on the blueline for them for the next decade and a half or more. But the Islanders took a hit when new GM Mathieu Darche dealt away star blueliner Noah Dobson to the Canadiens. And the end result, at least, for the moment, is that an already questionable defense corps is going to be not nearly as good. That fact, along with their dog’s breakfast of forwards, will push the Isles far down the Metro standings. That’s not a prediction. That’s a spoiler.
Why I Could Be Wrong: There are a number of Islanders veterans – center Bo Hovat, wingers Mathew Barzal and Anders Lee – who didn’t sign up for a full-on rebuild, But if they’re really unwilling to suffer through that pain that’s ahead, Darche is going to oblige them and trade them for a small fortune. Because the truth about the Islanders is that they need to take a few steps back before they can rebuild as a legitimate Cup contender.
They’re not close to that point right now, and once the roster focus moves toward the long-term, Islanders fans will have to be satisfied that Islanders management is employing the safest building strategy. No more “mushy” middle finishes for this group. They need to tear it down to the studs, even if it means trading veterans they’d otherwise hang on to. It’s time for an era of building slowly and steadily on Long Island, and if they can do that, the Islanders will be a strong group. But it won’t be a strong group for the interim. Patience is needed as they discover and develop their new and improved identity.
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