The Buffalo Sabres won the NHL's Atlantic Division, one of the toughest divisions in all of North American sports, during the 2025-26 season, but the Montreal Canadiens were the last Atlantic team standing, reaching the Eastern Conference Final after beating the Sabres in the playoffs' second round.
Neither of those still-talented teams sit atop the first divisional power rankings ahead of the 2026-27 campaign, however, as pretty much every Atlantic organization has spent the summer gearing up for a battle that may take all 84 regular-season games to decide.
As a result, the margin for error will be incredibly thin for the Sabres, Habs, Boston Bruins, Detroit Red Wings, Florida Panthers, Ottawa Senators, Tampa Bay Lightning and Toronto Maple Leafs, at least three of whom will miss out on the 2027 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Let's analyze where each of those clubs stand with offseason activity beginning to wind down, though there's still time for a few signings or trades before the new season arrives in late September.
The Red Wings' chances to compete will be tough to fully pin down until a final decision is made in the Dylan Larkin saga. If the star center's trade request ultimately leads to a deal this offseason, Detroit will find it difficult to keep pace in the division race.
Larkin's possible exit may result in a total rebuild, which could lead to the departures of 2027 unrestricted free agents like Alex DeBrincat, Andrew Copp, Justin Faulk and John Gibson. That type of tear down combined with the Atlantic's strength probably lands the Wings in the No. 1 pick conversation.
That said, if Detroit keeps Larkin and decides to fight for a postseason berth, a process that would probably include signing another offense-first, top-six winger, it would leave the division without an obvious weak spot and add to the intrigue.
The Bruins exceeded expectations last season, hitting 100 points thanks to a terrific 29-11-1 home record at TD Garden. Head coach Marco Sturm deserves a lot of credit for getting the most out of a roster that can't match the Atlantic's top teams based purely on high-end talent.
Boston did try to close that gap a bit by acquiring winger JJ Peterka, a former member of the Sabres, from the Utah Mammoth early in the offseason. He should bolster the team's secondary scoring, an area of concern at times throughout last season.
Goalie Jeremy Swayman will need to produce a Vezina Trophy-level campaign if the B's are going to make the playoffs for the 10th time in the past 11 years, though.
The Senators are the toughest team to place in the rankings. They captured the Eastern Conference's final playoff spot last season and were subsequently swept in the first round by the eventual Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes. Then they traded away captain Brady Tkachuk to the division rival Panthers, where he'll play alongside brother Matthew Tkachuk.
Yet, the underlying numbers suggested the Sens were slightly better goaltending from being among the NHL's elite in 2025-26. They finished fourth in expected goal share in all situations (54.6%, per Natural Stat Trick) but ranked 31st in team save percentage (.882).
If goaltender Linus Ullmark, the 2023 Vezina Trophy winner, can produce a bounce-back season, Ottawa should have enough depth thanks to additions like William Eklund and Andre Burakovsky to make a serious push up the Atlantic standings.
It's crazy how much the conversation around the Leafs has shifted since season's end. There was talk about a possible full-scale rebuilding effort, which may have featured an Auston Matthews trade. It felt like the franchise was light-years from jumping back into contention.
Then Toronto won the draft lottery from the right to select Gavin McKenna and everything changed. New John Chayka parlayed that into an aggressive summer featuring the additions of Sergei Bobrovsky, Darren Raddysh, Jack Roslovic and Colton Sissons, among others.
This is a conservative ranking until we see how all of the Maple Leafs' new puzzle pieces fit together, but there's a real chance Toronto is in the mix for a top-three spot in the Atlantic. That surely didn't seem like a realistic outcome back in April.
Although the Sabres' decision to trade Alex Tuch and Bowen Byram was understandable — neither player was going to sign a long-term contract extension to remain with the organization — losing two key pieces without bringing in direct replacements comes with risk, especially in a tough division.
Buffalo is betting heavily on improvement on young players to remain a contender. That includes internal growth from the likes of Zach Benson, Josh Doan, Konsta Helenius, Noah Ostlund and a returning Jiri Kulich as well as offseason acquisitions Olen Zellweger and Louis Crevier.
The Sabres are the one Atlantic team still being linked to potentially substantial moves, led by a possible trade for Winnipeg Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck and/or signing Patrick Kane, a future Hockey Hall of Famer from Buffalo. Those additions would shift their placement in the rankings.
It's been a mostly quiet offseason for the Habs, which isn't a complete surprise since they have a strong roster foundation with a lot of young talent. They decided to use resources to re-sign some of those key pillars, a group headlined by winger Ivan Demidov and Jakub Dobes.
That said, it feels like the Canadiens could have benefited from adding another scoring forward. After their top four scorers up front last season (Demidov, Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky), no other forward scored more than 37 points.
Montreal does have plenty of salary-cap space available ($9.8 million, according to PuckPedia), so that type of addition may still be on the horizon, either before training camp or ahead of the 2027 NHL trade deadline. The right player could push an otherwise rock-solid squad over the top.
The Lightning made one of the NHL's best summer moves by signing defenseman John Carlson for two years at a $8.5 million salary, an absolute bargain given current market conditions. It gives them security in case Victor Hedman doesn't return to form in 2026-27.
Beyond that, Tampa once again features one of the league's most complete rosters from top to bottom. When you combine that with the star power of two-time Hart Trophy winner Nikita Kucherov and two-time Vezina Trophy winner Andrei Vasilevskiy, the club has a "too big to fail" vibe.
The only real concern is age. The Bolts have very few key contributors in their early or mid-20s, which is always a consideration ahead of an 84-game regular season and a potential two-month playoff journey. If they stay mostly healthy, they're a top-tier Stanley Cup contender.
Well, it didn't take too long for the 2024 and 2025 Cup champions to reclaim the top spot. They suffered through an injury-plagued 2025-26 campaign, but all signs point toward a fully healthy roster when the Cats arrive to training camp.
Their top-nine forwards are unquestionably the NHL's most complete group, and a vast majority of them are signed for the long haul, which is worrisome for the rest of the league (and obviously the Atlantic Division). It's going to make the Panthers a matchup nightmare.
Florida's only real question is between the pipes, where the front office overhauled its goaltending depth chart with the arrivals of Jacob Markstrom and Akira Schmid. If that duo can provide even league-average performance, the team should be right back in the championship mix.
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