2024-25 NHL Divisional Rankings for Metro:

North American hockey fans can’t wait for another NHL Season to begin! New Jersey and Buffalo got it underway by hosting the Global Series tournament in Prague earlier this year; training camps and preseason are near completion; some top stars found new homes this summer!
NHL Rumors: Who Will Make the Biggest Impact in the Metro Division? A new season always holds hope for teams, from top clubs looking to take home the Stanley Cup all the way down to rebuilders looking to stay competitive and show progress; both can only have one winner however! Even though all teams may want it as badly, only one will emerge victorious at some point this year.
As NHLRumors.com has done in past seasons, we will give an in-depth preview of each conference by ranking teams within each division – starting off this new campaign by reviewing Metro Division rankings first!. [see NHL Metro Division Rankings here]
Last Year’s Champion The New York Rangers won their division and President’s Trophy but fell to Florida Panthers in Eastern Conference Final.
NHL Rumors: New York Rangers’ Igor Shesterkin could become available via free agency after signing an extension in April
Chris Drury took no major steps during this offseason due to Jacob Trouba’s contract constraints on the Rangers, other than trading for Reilly Smith in an attempt to fill Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad on their top line (Kaapo Kakko has signed one-year deals to fill that role); Alexis Lafreniere remains with Artemi Panarin and Vicent Trocheck; however their success lies heavily on Panarin and his health status.
Ryan Lindgren signed a one-year deal, is injured, but otherwise the Rangers signed only depth players. There has been talk that they might re-sign Igor Shesterkin with long-term deals; plus have enough cap space available in 2018-2019 season to pay their core players.
However, both teams in the NHL Metro Division — Rangers and Devils — will battle it out for supremacy this season, although we don’t think the Rangers possess as many points as last season.
2. New Jersey Devils (Last Season: Seventh Place) The New Jersey Devils kicked off their 2017-18 campaign in Prague against Buffalo Sabres. Tom Fitzgerald knew his team must do better compared to last season; perhaps too complacent were they during 2017. But after such a disappointing finish Fitzgerald went straight back into work on improving them.
NHL Rumors: How the New Jersey Devils Acquired Sheldon Keefe After firing Lindy Ruff and replacing him with Travis Green, who then made an aggressive bid to sign Sheldon Keefe from Toronto Maple Leafs who was released. Also acquired Jacob Markstrom who looked great during game one.
By making these adjustments, he revamped the Devils to be tougher opponents for opponents, adding size with Brett Pesce, Johnathan Kovacevic, Brenden Dillon, Stefan Noesen and Tomas Tatar; trading Paul Cotter; plus keeping Dougie Hamilton healthy along with Luke Hughes, Simon Nemec and Seamus Casey for good measure.
Fitzgerald brought back memories of two seasons ago, when the Devils were formidable opponents to face off against. Fitzgerald has led them back towards being an intimidating team once more this season; all eyes expect them to make it deep into playoff contention thanks to Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier leading from the front, even while learning new systems.
3. Carolina Hurricanes (Last Season Finished Second)
The Carolina Hurricanes will take a slight step back in the NHL Metro Division this season after losing key defensemen such as Pesce and Brady Skjei; Sean Walker and Shayne Gostisbehere will step in as replacements on defense respectively.
NHL News : Canucks, Islanders, Jets and Sens make headlines. Hurricanes, Penguins Blue Jackets Devils and Utah also receive coverage.
Expect the Hurricanes to play with that same intensity with Rod Brind’Amour coaching them, playing to their coach’s identity as they always have done. Now that Martin Necas signed a new deal it should be interesting how they utilize him; Jack Drury should step up; Seth Jarvis feels as if this team belongs solely to him even though Sebastian Aho remains on board.
Jack Roslovic will replace Jake Guentzel who was traded away to Tampa Bay prior to free agency. Although not as prolific, Andrei Svechnikov can still find ways to put pucks in the net; one question will remain as to whether Pyotr Kochetkov can finally displace Frederik Andersen from starting goalkeeper duties?
4. Washington Capitals (Last Year: Fourth Place) Some may find this surprising; however, Washington could be an underrated contender in the NHL Metro Division this season. Many don’t anticipate them staying competitive like last season did but this offseason’s moves show otherwise.
Washington Capitals Have Convincingly Impressed Their Former Coach This Offseason Washington strengthened their squad this offseason by adding Logan Thompson alongside Charlie Lindgren; trading Jakob Chychrun while losing Nick Jensen; as well as adding Andrew Mangiapane, Matt Roy, and Pierre-Luc Dubois as players of interest.
PLD could be the X-factor in Washington. If he lives up to the potential outlined in his contract signed with Los Angeles Kings prior to being traded here, Washington might just have found their replacement for Nicklas Backstrom in PLD.
Washington Capitals currently feature Sonny Milano, Dylan Strome and Connor McMichael after starting to retool earlier than their rival team. Additionally they will benefit from having T.J. Oshie miss the entire year due to LTIRF cap space; suggesting they might surprise some with how good they really are this season.
5. New York Islanders (Last Year finished Third)
Ahh… the Islanders… they remain hard to predict each year but one thing always stands out – goal scoring! Upon discussion of their performance.
NHL Injuries: Blue Jackets, Canadiens, Islanders, Rangers, Senators, Penguins and Jets
And every year, the answer has been “no”. Even with Anthony Duclair on board, this year has proven no different; even after adding Bo Horvat and Mathew Barzal as contributors. While Brock Nelson often scores 30 goals each season; unfortunately for them though, these older Islanders struggled. Kyle Palmieri proved inconsistent.
Now, the players will benefit from having an entire off-season with Patrick Roy as their coach; never underestimate his effectiveness! Noah Dobson offers assistance at backend while Ilya Sorokin and Semyon Varlamov provide top goaltending performance.
But this division is difficult, and they must overcome a formidable opponent – such as Washington Capitals who seems determined to keep them down.
6. Pittsburgh Penguins (Last Year: Fifth Place)
It looks to be another difficult year for the Pittsburgh Penguins, as they seem likely to miss the playoffs for at least the third year running. Sidney Crosby may return for at least another season; however, given they are one of the oldest teams in the NHL (being founded in 1967!), that may help somewhat.
Will Sidney Crosby Play Again for the Pittsburgh Penguins
Their rebuild should have started years ago when Kris Letang or Evgeni Malkin could have been chosen, instead both being selected. Unfortunately, ownership wants management to build around Crosby, Letang, and Malkin for one final attempt at winning a Stanley Cup title – something which simply is not happening with their recent additions.
Kevin Hayes has had his time, yet is past his prime. Rutger McGroarty shows promise as the next Jake Guentzel while Anthony Beauvillier continues his solid play and Matt Grzelcyk does nothing special; nothing stands out about either player; yet Tristan Jarry remains vitally important if any Penguins hope of reaching success are to succeed.
7. Philadelphia Flyers (Last Season, Sixth Place) Last season’s Philadelphia Flyers were one of the surprise teams in NHL Metro Division play and managed to stay close until playoff time but ultimately fell just short of making an impressionful statement with their success in reaching sixth place overall in Metro.
Philadelphia Flyers Could Surprise This Season
There has been much talk surrounding the Philadelphia Flyers this season after signing Matvei Michkov from KHL deal and quickly joining Owen Tippett, Bobby Brink and Morgan Frost on their roster. Alongside Michkov are Ivan Fedotov and Aleksei Kolosov to provide some quality goaltending options alongside Samuel Ersson who provide another layer of defense on top of everything else they have on hand for next season.
Travis Konecny signed an eight-year extension with Philadelphia this off-season and we can’t wait to see what head coach John Tortorella can accomplish with this group this season. Since so many teams are making strides forward like the Devils have, it will be fascinating to observe where each of their standings land this year.
8. Columbus Blue Jackets (Last Year Finished Eighth)
Writing this paragraph may be difficult and let’s be clear: this year will not be easy for the Columbus Blue Jackets. Johnny Gaudreau’s tragic passing sent them into an immediate tailspin that may never recover from. We may never know what could have been between Gaudreau and Sean Monahan as there was so much potential between the two, unfortunately one was taken far too soon.
NHL Rumors: Philadelphia Flyers and Columbus Blue Jackets
Both Philadelphia and Columbus still feature young teams on the ice; Dean Evason has just taken over coaching duties there as bench boss and expects his squad to perform at its highest potential; strong pieces include Kent Johnson, Adam Fantilli, Monahan Boone Jenner Kirill Marchenko David Jiricek Zach Werenski Ivan Provorov Damon Severson to name just some examples of talent that might get them there.