Way-Too-Early Report Card Grades for Every NHL Team After the 1st Week of the 2026-27 Season

We are through the first week of the 2026-27 NHL season, and every team has given at least a first impression. Is it an accurate first impression? Maybe. But also... maybe not.

The first week of any season can produce some random results, and that will be especially true this season due to the shortened training camp and preseason.

But that doesn't mean we can't still evaluate that first impression and assign a grade based on what it looks like.

This is not a grade on the overall quality of the teams, what is expected of them this season, or where they will be at the end of the season. It is simply a look at what they have done and how they have performed through their first week of the season.

So let's take a way-too-early look at what every team has done so far.

ANA | BOS | BUF | CAR | CBJ | CGY | CHI | COL | DAL | DET | EDM | FLA | LAK | MIN | MTL | NJD | NSH | NYI | NYR | OTT | PHI | PIT | SEA | SJS | STL | TBL | TOR | UTA | VAN | VGK | WPG | WSH

After a pretty chaotic offseason that saw them use up all of their salary cap space on re-signing their own restricted free agents and not really being able to make improvements to their roster, there was an expectation that the Ducks would take a step backward in 2026-27.

They still might. Especially given the makeup of the defense.

So far? They have played mostly well, jumping out to a 2-0-0 start through Wednesday's games.

Leo Carlsson, their $15 million-per-year man, has been leading the way with five points through two games. They may have had to overpay him after his offer sheet with the Philadelphia Flyers, but he's the type of player you won't mind overpaying for — a top-line center, just entering the prime of his career, who will only keep getting better for the foreseeable future.

The Bruins will go as far as their top players will take them, and that is especially true when it comes to starting goalie Jeremy Swayman. He had to mask a lot of flaws defensively a year ago, and given the way the roster looks on paper, specifically its defense and the depth in that group, he might have to do it again. So far, he has been up to the challenge with a .914 save percentage through his first three starts.

JJ Peterka has made a nice first impression with two goals in his first four games, while James Hagens is off to a promising start with two goals as well. They are big X-factors this season due to their offensive upside.

After losing Bowen Byram and Alex Tuch over the summer, with nobody else really coming in to replace them, there was some concern over whether or not the Sabres would be hit with some regression this season. That concern isn't gone after three games, but that doesn't take away from the start.

Buffalo has won two of its first three games and, through Wednesday, has mostly pushed the pace, posting a 65.8 expected goals share in 5-on-5 play. That is, as of publication, one week into the season, the highest mark in the league.

Are there concerns about some parts of the roster, and is there a reason to anticipate a small step backward? There are. But they have done a nice job in the first week to at least get things off to a strong start.

Players That Will Dominate the Rumor Mill

This is going to be a very, very long season in Calgary.

This is an extensive rebuild, and it has left the roster with little offensive talent. Their first three games have been completely uncompetitive, with a 16-3 margin of defeat.

Their big offseason move was trading two first-round picks for defenseman Šimon Nemec. It's a fine move and an intriguing addition long-term, but it's not going to be a needle-mover in the short term.

The defending champs are just going about their business, doing their thing by winning the shot-attempt battle, controlling the territorial play, and grinding opponents down. They have recorded at least one point in three of their first four games, despite not having Seth Jarvis in the lineup yet.

There should not be much question about what they are going to be about this season.

The only question is what they do with Alexander Nikishin as a trade chip and how they will use the remaining salary cap space they have to work with. There is still a big move lurking.

Not having Connor Bedard has certainly hurt, but just throwing a bunch of young players to the wolves in the NHL is going to result in a lot of growing pains and probably a lot of bad hockey at times. How much will that impact them, and will it actually lead to real improvement long-term?

Those are big questions with legitimately concerning answers. Some of these games have looked awful early on. They might have a good prospect ranking, but prospects fail more often than not. This is still a bad team facing another long season.

Two games, two wins, two absolute blowouts.

As strong an opening statement as a team can make.

Nathan MacKinnon and Martin Nečas are picking up right where they left off offensively a year ago, while MacKenzie Blackwood has been mostly solid in net.

They lost a lot of depth over the summer, but as long as the superstars are at the top of the lineup and playing the way they are, this is going to be a contender in the West.

The best news for Columbus is that the recently acquired Matthew Knies has made a tremendous first impression with two goals and two assists in his first two games. He may not have the flashy skill that Kirill Marchenko has, but he's a good player, younger than Marchenko, and signed to a better contract. It is a trade that can work out if Knies continues to develop. He is off to a strong start.

At the team level, they played one really solid game and one really awful game, which led head coach Rick Bowness to say they were "exposed."

There is some talent here, but sometimes the vibes around it and the franchise as a whole are alarmingly negative. Bowness is trying to change that. He is going to have his work cut out for him.

This is one of those teams where you shouldn't be overly concerned with or overanalyze early results.

The process has mostly been in place (59 percent expected goal share), the goaltending has been really good, and they have one of their top players, Roope Hintz, back after he missed the end of the 2026-27 season. It's a good team with legitimate Stanley Cup aspirations.

They are 1-2-0 through three games entering play on Wednesday; they could easily be 2-1 given how they played in Game 2 in Nashville.

The organization itself gets an F for the mess it's put itself in with Dylan Larkin, Simon Edvinsson, and the general manager situation. It's created a surreal situation where Larkin is getting booed every time he touches the puck and cheered when he scores (as he did on Tuesday night), while fans fill the space in between by chanting for ownership to sell the team.

The rest of the players and coaching staff are doing what they can under less-than-ideal circumstances. The first two games were ugly, but they did get a nice win against Ottawa on Tuesday night, at least to create some positive momentum.

Offensively, the top guys are off to an incredible start, with Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and Evan Bouchard dominating through the first three games.

Defensively and in goaltending? Still some big concerns there, and they won't go away until they consistently demonstrate improvement in those areas. This season is still going to come down to what the secondary players do to complement McDavid and Draisaitl, and whether or not one of their goalies can make enough saves.

Weird start to the season as Florida has spent most of it either tied or trailing, but is somehow still 2-0-2.

Given the circumstances, opening the season with a four-game road trip that includes the defending Stanley Cup champions, followed by a three-game West Coast swing, that's a solid start, coming away with six out of a possible eight points.

The big concern, however, is going to be injuries.

Aleksander Barkov is out for 6-8 weeks after he missed all of last season.

Then Brad Marchand suffered an ugly injury shortly after he returned to the lineup.

The expectation is that Florida will be significantly better this season and return to being a Stanley Cup contender. Injuries could derail that.

The Kings have settled into a disturbing level of mediocrity over the past few years, and nothing about the roster suggests that will change this season.

It will defend reasonably well. There are a lot of pretty good players who have a role on a playoff team.

But there are simply not enough game-changers here to raise their ceiling beyond what it has been for the past five years (a first-round exit playoff team).

The biggest thing that's hurt them through the first week is that their goaltending is off to a terrible start, with Anton Forsberg and Darcy Kuemper at a combined minus-7.1 in goals saved above expected ( via MoneyPuck ).

I'm not sure that the Wild have really controlled the play in any of their first three games, but they are still 2-0-1, and they will take that.

The biggest factor behind that early success? Starting goalie Jesper Wallstedt has been sensational, posting a .933 all-situations save percentage and 3.1 goals above expected. His name keeps coming up in trade speculation, but it's hard to imagine him going anywhere, especially if he keeps playing like this.

The good news? The offense looks great with 12 goals in three games. Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki look really good, while Chris Kreider has made a nice early impression, winning over Montreal fans with four points in three games.

The bad news? As good as the 12 goals scored in three games look, the 14 goals against in three games look equally bad.

We know this team can skate, generate offense, and finish. We still need to see a little more from them in terms of slowing other teams down.

It is hard to get a read on what sort of team Nashville is and will be this season. It is even harder to get a read on where they see themselves from a big-picture perspective.

They have an older core that hasn't done much in recent years, and then spent the summer adding depth pieces the way a contending team would. Do they see themselves as a playoff team? Is it one last run with this core to see what happens? It's going to be fascinating to watch play out.

Steven Stamkos and Nils Hoglander (one of those depth additions) are off to strong starts offensively with three goals each.

They haven't really controlled any of their first three games, but they've also played a reasonably tough schedule with Minnesota and Dallas at home and a road game at Toronto.

I am not sure the record or cumulative score accurately reflects how New Jersey has actually played so far.

Offensively, they have scored on just five percent of their shots.

Defensively, they are not getting a save from either goalie.

When it comes to the former, I would imagine that some of those shots are going to start finding the back of the net. Nobody shoots five percent for a full season. There are goals to be had.

When it comes to the latter, it could be a major issue that dramatically changes the season. The goalie duo of Jake Allen and Nico Daws was a big potential red flag coming into the season, and they have done nothing to ease concerns. That position could significantly lower this team's ceiling.

This team was always going to go as far as goalie Ilya Sorokin and defenseman Matthew Schaefer can take them. That is especially true for as long as Mathew Barzal is out.

The good news? A franchise goalie and a No. 1 defenseman can take a team reasonably far, especially when the goalie can reach Sorokin's level, and he has been sensational through his first two starts.

Not just in the sense that they might be competitive again this season, but also in the sense that they are losing the underlying numbers battle in every game but still coming away with wins because their goalie is better than every other goalie and they might have enough finishers to capitalize on the shots they do get.

I wouldn't call this team a contender as far as the Stanley Cup goes, but the playoffs are easily within reach, especially after a strong offseason that saw them add Pavel Dorofeyev, Oliver Bjorkstrand, and Eeli Tolvanen at forward, and also reshape the defense with Sean Durzi and Marcus Pettersson.

The wild cards are Igor Shesterkin, Adam Fox, and Alexis Lafreniere. Shesterkin and Fox are two of the best at their positions, with both missing significant time a year ago. They are still waiting for the big Lafreniere breakout, and he keeps showing signs and flashes that it can still happen.

Brady Tkachuk is gone, but that shouldn't make you write them off just yet.

The defensive structure that made them a playoff team over the past two seasons is still there, and it is reasonable to expect a bounce-back season from Linus Ullmark in goal. If they can, the playoffs are within reach.

There is still a good core here, and now they don't have to deal with the uncertainty of whether their captain wants to be there or listen to his family critique his usage and ice time on a podcast.

Not just in terms of the results, but also in the process behind those results. They are not just losing games; they are getting completely and thoroughly dominated. Outside of signing Leo Carlsson to the restricted free-agent offer sheet (and then watching Anaheim match it), they didn't really do much to change the roster and were largely banking on internal improvement from their young players.

It is still early, and there is still plenty of time for that to happen.

But through the first week, this looks like a team that did nothing to its roster and heard its general manager tell the public there was a good chance they would take a step backward this season, and that they were ready for it. Not exactly what you want to hear after reaching the second round of the playoffs. This also is not the type of hockey you want to see after that.

There is a ton of forward depth here, and that has mostly been on display. Ben Kindel, their second-year center in his age-19 season, has looked like their best player so far, which is a great sign given how important he will be for them long-term.

They still have some issues they need to clean up on their own end.

They will score goals, and they will score a lot of them. Their ability to hold on to leads and get solid goaltending from Artūrs Šilovs and Sergei Murashov will determine how good their season can be. Both goalies have made strong first impressions despite some shoddy defensive work in front of them at times.

So far, the Sharks have been exactly what their roster says they will be. When things are going well, they will have a potentially electrifying offense, with Macklin Celebrini leading the way.

They are also going to struggle defensively and to consistently push the pace of the game.

They have allowed 12 goals in three games and have a 29 percent expected goal share. That's a problem. Also a problem: Celebrini is currently dealing with a lower-body injury, and in the game he missed, they lost 5-0 and were not even competitive.

Exciting team. A lot of long-term potential.

But an exciting team that still has many flaws and a long way to go before it realizes all its potential.

The one thing we can definitively say about the 2026-27 Seattle Kraken: They are significantly better than the Calgary Flames, beating them in two games by a combined score of 12-2.

They are 0-2 and have been outscored 9-3 by teams other than the Calgary Flames.

In some ways, this start is the absolute perfect representation of what the Kraken are as an organization. They are better than the absolute worst teams in the league and not quite stuck in that pit of losing. But they are also nowhere near as good as the top teams and are not really climbing that mountain to catch up to them.

They haven't really received anything offensive from Robert Thomas, Jake Neighbours, or Pavel Buchnevich yet. That will change, and when it does, it will help a lot. They are too good to be this quiet for long.

They have received one start from Jordan Binnington, and he allowed six goals and looked like a one-man self-destruction wrecking crew. The point here is that Joel Hofer is this team's best goalie, and he needs to be utilized as he is.

Tough game to open the season against the Rangers, but a nice response in the next two games, completely dominating Washington and Philadelphia. They have a 62 percent expected goals share through three games (third-best in the league) and are mostly dominating play in 5-on-5 situations.

It is a good team, even if playoff success hasn't been there in recent years. There are still some things to fix from a depth perspective, but the guys at the top of the lineup (Nikita Kucherov, Jake Guentzel, Brayden Point, Andrei Vasilevskiy) still have a lot to give.

The Maple Leafs should be highly encouraged by what they are seeing from Auston Matthews and William Nylander so far.

They should have some minor concern over what Sergei Bobrovsky has done so far and their overall defensive play.

Bobrovsky is one of the big-ticket offseason moves, and the one most likely to impact things given his position. He was awful in Florida a year ago and is a year older now. Is he a Hall of Famer? Yes. Has he won a lot? Also yes. Is he going to win the fight with Father Time? Nobody ever does.

Utah has not yet played the most daunting schedule in terms of opponents, but sometimes a sign of a good team is simply taking care of business against lesser teams and soundly beating them.

The Mammoth enter play on Wednesday having won three of their first four games, scoring 17 goals and winning each by multiple goals.

Utah was a playoff team a year ago, and after adding Vincent Trocheck and Anders Lee this summer, there is a real reason to believe they can be a contender. Especially if they can get even average goaltending.

Are we grading on a curve here with the Canucks? Sure. This team was supposed to be awful, and it will still probably end up as one of the worst teams in the league. But winning two of their first four games and then losing a one-goal game to Vegas is a strong start and a strong effort.

Elias Pettersson with six points in four games and Marco Rossi already scoring three goals are also very encouraging developments.

Whether they are contending this season or not, they need those two guys to be good and produce. Strong start for both of them.

Remember what we said up above about Utah and good teams soundly beating the teams they should beat?

On an individual level, forward Jack Eichel is cooking everybody with 10 points in four games as he looks poised for his third consecutive 90-point season. Perhaps even his first 100-point season.

The Capitals absolutely dominated Carolina in their season-opener and then lost a tough game against Tampa Bay in their second game.

Expectations are extremely high here for this season, and they should be given the depth of the roster on paper and the offseason they had. It is also officially Alex Ovechkin's retirement season, and there is going to be a lot of incentive to send him into retirement on top. They have the roster that can do that. Or at least compete for it.

Alex Tuch, one of their biggest offseason additions, made a strong first impression with two goals in his debut game with the team.

They lack a superstar at the top of the lineup (Ovechkin is still a big name, but he is no longer a superstar in terms of impact), but the depth here is so overwhelming that there is no real weakness anywhere on the roster.

The Connor Hellebuyck situation is not great, and his absence and eventual departure could be a problem this season. It still seems like an organization that is stuck in neutral under the current management and ownership. But it is hard to complain about the start of the season with five out of a possible six points in three games.

Kyle Connor is off to another great start offensively, while Clay Stevenson had an outstanding debut in his first start. He is an intriguing goalie given his minor league success and is going to get a real opportunity here.