NHL Power Rankings: It's resolution season

It’s safe to assume NHL players forgo the usual health-related resolutions the rest of us double-down on this time of year. Being pro athletes in the prime of their lives and all, there are probably other things these fitness freaks can focus on.

So what is flying around the NHL this time of year in terms of internal promises? Teams and players are surely swearing they’re going to do something significant in 2025.

With that in mind, as we embark on the very first days of a new year, we’re dedicating the first power ranking of 2025 to identifying one resolution for all 32 clubs.

1. Vegas Golden Knights (25-9-3) Make Jack Eichel a Hart Trophy finalist. It’s crazy that the second-overall pick in 2015 has received MVP votes just one time in his career, when he finished eighth in the balloting in 2020. This is the year he pushes into the top three with a wicked second half.

2. Winnipeg Jets (27-11-1) Give the whiteout a real run. It’s wild that in 30 combined seasons of Jets hockey between the 1.0 and 2.0 eras, Winnipeg has advanced past the second round just one time, in 2018.

3. Washington Capitals (25-10-2) Don’t let pending-UFA Jakob Chychrun get to the open market. The first-year Capital is tied for the goal-scoring lead among defenceman (11) and seems like a dream fit in D.C.

4. Los Angeles Kings (22-10-5) Beat the Edmonton Oilers in Round 1. It feels like there’s at least a 50-per-cent chance the teams meet for a fourth straight year in the opening round of the playoffs and the Kings must win one of these times.

5. Florida Panthers (23-13-2) Polish a new gem, the way you did with waiver pickup Gus Forsling or trade acquisitions Sam Reinhart and Sam Bennett previously. It’s a big ask, but so is trying to make it to a third straight final.

6. Edmonton Oilers (22-12-3) What else: Get back to the final and finish the job.

7. Toronto Maple Leafs (23-13-2) Have a heart-to-heart with Auston Matthews about playing in the 4 Nations Face-Off.

8. Colorado Avalanche (23-15-0) Screw the internal salary cap established by Nathan MacKinnon’s $12.6-million hit; give Mikko Rantanen whatever he’s worth, because somebody else will — and then some — on the 2026 open market.

9. Dallas Stars (22-13-1) If Aaron Ekblad becomes a UFA in July, find a way to make the right-shot D-man a Dallas Star.

10. Carolina Hurricanes (22-13-2) Go get Chris Krieder from your torpedoing Metro rivals in Manhattan and get him nice and healthy for the playoffs.

11. New Jersey Devils (24-14-3) Try not to snicker too much at the Rangers.

12. Minnesota Wild (23-11-4) Get Kirill Kaprizov locked up on an eight-year extension this summer and remove any drama before he heads into the final year of his contract next October.

13. Tampa Bay Lightning (20-12-2) Keep being as bold as you were in 2024, when you let Steven Stamkos walk, inked Jake Guentzel and were willing to move Mikhail Sergachev.

14. Boston Bruins (20-15-4) Get that goal-differential in line. The Bruins are minus-16 this season, the only minus mark of any Eastern Conference team currently in the playoffs and the fifth-worst mark in the conference overall.

15. Ottawa Senators (19-15-2) JUST GET TO THE POST-SEASON!!

16. Calgary Flames (18-12-7) Sign pending-UFA Dan Vladar and watch him and rookie Dustin Wolf develop into one of the more reliable batteries around in coming years.

17. Vancouver Canucks (17-11-8) Charge into the open market, jump on the trade calls and improve that blueline.

18. St. Louis Blues (18-17-4) Get frisky again if RFA defenceman like K’Andre Miller, Bowen Byram or Cam York linger on the market.

19. Pittsburgh Penguins (17-17-5) Find Sidney Crosby the 87 — yep — points he needs to pass Mario Lemieux as the all-time franchise points leader before 2026.

20. Montreal Canadiens (17-17-3) Get evangelical when it’s time to stump for Lane Hutson as the Canadiens' first Calder Trophy winner since Ken Dryden in 1972.

21. Columbus Blue Jackets (16-16-6) Keep pending-UFA Ivan Provorov and just go for it in a wide-open Eastern Conference wild card chase.

22. Philadelphia Flyers (17-17-4) If you’re going to live on the playoff bubble every year, get back to being the Flyers and make a big off-season UFA or trade splash.

23. Utah Hockey Club (16-15-6) Vaporize some futures and acquire some players — even rentals — who can help the depleted blueline.

24. Anaheim Ducks (15-17-4) Find a resolution with Trevor Zegras once and for all.

25. New York Islanders (14-17-4) Find a scorer — any scorer — so that when prospect Cole Eiserman arrives, you’ll really have something. Maybe even call the team that’s one above you on this ranking…

26. Seattle Kraken (17-19-2) Do everything you can to get Matty Beniers — who’s scored in two straight games — confident and productive.

27. Detroit Red Wings (15-18-4) Figure out a way to play the smothering, two-way game the Wings used to feature when new coach Todd McLellan was an assistant in Detroit for three years coming out of the 2004-05 lockout. Granted, that’ll be a tough assignment with no Pavel Datsyuk or Henrik Zetterberg around.

28.Buffalo Sabres (14-20-4) Make the second half of this season as positive as the first half has been miserable.

29. New York Rangers (16-19-1) Start figuring out who the next free agents who only want to play for the Rangers are, because there might not be another way out of this hole.

30. Nashville Predators (11-20-7) Try and get back to that good brand of boring you were for 20 years.

31. San Jose Sharks (11-23-6) When the 2025-26 schedule comes out, look up when the Dallas Stars are coming to town and retire Joe Pavelski’s No. 8 that night so he can join his pals Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton up there.

32. Chicago Blackhawks (12-24-2) If Mitch Marner or Mikko Rantanen make it to market, make a pitch that starts with things like how cool of a city Chicago is, how good playing with Connor Bedard could be for the next seven years and ends with, “Here’s a cheque; fill in your number.”