A month into the NHL season, the standings are still fairly tight, and there are only a few teams on the extreme ends.

There are only six teams under .500 at the moment, which paints the perfect picture of parity in the NHL. But we’re here to look at the bottom of the NHL standings as we do every month of the NHL season, in what’s become a yearly tradition at The Hockey News. It’s time to look at the NHL Sour Rankings.

Before we jump into the basement-dwelling clubs, with this being the first edition of the Sour Rankings for the 2025-26 NHL season, it’s important to get a quick look at who these teams are hoping to land if they end up sticking around at the bottom of the barrel. 

The top prospect in this year’s NHL draft is Gavin McKenna, a superstar forward who has dominated the WHL the last couple of seasons, and now he’s putting up impressive numbers at the NCAA level with Penn State. His dynamic skill and creativity have teams excited for the possibility of adding the winger. 

Beyond McKenna, there are plenty of options for who could be a top prospect this year. It’s widely considered a strong draft with more depth at the top than recent years. Tynan Lawrence is the top center for most people, blending skill and speed with some really interesting power elements as well. 

Keaton Verheoff is the top blueliner on most boards, playing a steady, poised game at both ends of the ice with some sneaky good puck handling and the ability to escape pressure in his own zone. Add in the high-octane Mathis Preston and the relentless Ivar Stenberg out of Sweden, and you have a stout top end of the draft. 

We will have a full NHL draft ranking next month ahead of the World Junior Championship at The Hockey News, but for now, let’s look at the teams vying for top-end draft picks and whether they will be sticking around the basement or not.

Calgary Flames, 4-9-2, 10 Points (.333 Points Percentage)

Last season, the Flames overachieved and pushed for the playoffs right until the final days of the season, after many had predicted they would finish near or at the bottom. This season, they have not only fallen back to earth, but they’ve come crashing down. 

This team rode timely scoring and excellent goaltending from rookie Dustin Wolf last year. While Wolf has been good at times, he’s not quite as sharp as he was last year. Even when he does look to be in peak form, the Flames don’t have the scoring prowess to stay in games. 

It wouldn’t be shocking to see them kick off the trade market sooner rather than later because they seem to be embracing the young players on the roster. They have a few interesting trade chips in Nazem Kadri and Rasmus Andersson.

Committing to the rebuild and staying around the bottom of the standings would be much easier if they made those trades. 

St. Louis Blues, 5-8-2, 12 PTS (.400 P%)

The Blues have allowed more goals than any team in the NHL, and their minus-18 goal differential is the worst as well.

The Blues have been struggling in almost every facet of the game at this point. Pius Suter leads the team in scoring with nine points, while core players like Jordan Kyrou and Pavel Buchnevich are struggling to find consistent offense. 

In goal, Jordan Binnington and Joel Hofer are having rough starts after looking like a very solid tandem last year. With .859 and .864 save percentages, respectively, they are virtually unplayable, but with no other options, they are both thrown back into the net.

The Blues are better than this on paper, but the question is, how much better are they really?

Minnesota Wild, 5-7-3, 13 PTS (.433 P%)

Step 1: sign your star player to the most expensive contract in the NHL by a wide margin. 

Step 2: start out in a painfully mediocre way. 

Step 3: profit?

I don’t really know what to make of the Wild. They have excellent, top-of-the-lineup players, some solid young skaters and even a nice goalie tandem.

They can’t seem to find their way and put it together early in the year, though.

Kirill Kaprizov has been fantastic after signing his new eight-year, $136-million contract extension, with 19 points in 15 games. Matt Boldy and Marco Rossi look excellent, with 15 and 12 points, respectively. Rookie Zeev Buium has been quite fun to watch, with nine points in 15 games. The rest of the roster is a bit “meh.”

They can turn it around, but they are likely fighting for a wild-card spot, not a division seed for the playoffs.

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Nashville Predators, 5-7-4, 14 PTS (.438 P%)

Smashville needs to smash this team apart and commit to the rebuild.

This is the second straight season with this roster, featuring big-name talent, not living up to its name value. The massive free agency of two summers ago has produced mediocre results, and those players – Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault and Brady Skjei – are only getting older, slower, and less effective. 

There may not be a team in the league that needs to commit to moving some of their veterans more than Nashville. Finding new homes for guys while they still have that name value will be important because the Preds are running out of time to turn this thing around, and it’s looked awful in the process. Start a new chapter. 

San Jose Sharks, 5-6-3, 13 PTS (.464 P%)

Much like last season, the Sharks aren’t great, but the vibes are immaculate thanks to Macklin Celebrini and the young guys littered throughout the lineup.

Celebrini leads the NHL in scoring, tied at 21 points with Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel. The Sharks' next two leading scorers are Will Smith and William Eklund, two of their young core pieces. 

While there has been some frustration at times from fans with wanting to see Michael Misa and Sam Dickinson in more prominent roles, both rookies are coming into their own, and they look like they’ll be around for the long haul.

The Sharks likely won’t be climbing out of the basement anytime soon, but this team has a bright future ahead of it. You could even say, the future is teal.

Vancouver Canucks, 7-8-0, 14 PTS (.467 P%)

This team loves to be weird.

Quinn Hughes hasn’t quite looked like himself to start the year. Elias Pettersson hasn’t been deployed at even strength as much as he probably should be. Conor Garland leads the team in scoring. They are hovering right around the .500 mark, but they can’t seem to get on a real run to get out of the basement. The return of Thatcher Demko has been nice, and he’s looked solid. Kevin Lankinen has been fine as the backup. 

So what is really going on? They have one of the worst goal differentials in the league, and they don’t have an identity at the moment. This team looks fine in every area, but they don’t really excel in anything. The Canucks have some really good players, and the health of guys like Filip Chytil will go a long way, but this team looks to be lost in the abyss at the moment.

New York Rangers, 6-6-2, 14 PTS (.500 P%)

Speaking of lost in the abyss, the New York Rangers look like a mess.

They have been quite good away from Madison Square Garden, going 6-1-1 as the visiting team. When they are at home, they haven’t won a single game, and aside from the 6-5 overtime loss to the Sharks, they have only scored one goal. In total, they’ve been outscored 18-6 on home ice. That’s wildly unacceptable, especially when that includes being shut out four times. 

Adam Fox is having a bounce-back season and leads the team in scoring with 11 points, but he’s also the only player who has more than eight points.

The goalies have been fantastic, with Igor Shesterkin (.915 save percentage) and Jonathan Quick (.941) giving the Rangers a chance on just about every night.

The lack of scoring at home is sure to rebound, but the incredible road play is likely to regress as well. That likely means that this might just be a .500 team.

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Buffalo Sabres, 5-5-4, 14 PTS (.500 P%)

When will it end?

The pain Buffalo Sabres fans have had to endure has been relentless. They have had high draft picks and elite players. They’ve drafted players who have gone on to win Stanley Cups.

None of those players had their success in Buffalo, though, and the Sabres can’t seem to get out of their own way, trading players right as they start to break out.

With players in their prime, such as Tage Thompson and Rasmus Dahlin, as well as young guys like Zach Benson and Owen Power, this team should be poised to break out. Instead, they are just fighting to stay out of the basement.

Los Angeles Kings, 6-5-4, 16 PTS (.533 P%)

The Los Angeles Kings were busy this off-season, and many felt that some of the signings they made made their team worse.

Early season results are backing that up, but this team is better than they’ve shown so far. They should be fighting for a playoff spot because they have some really high-end players. Unfortunately, slow starts by most of their top players have held them back offensively, and they don’t have the same defensive prowess that they’ve found success with in the last few years.

If Quinton Byfield and Anze Kopitar can get going a bit, they should be just fine.

Edmonton Oilers, 6-5-4, 16 PTS (.533 P%)

The Oilers' appearance in the NHL Sour Rankings isn’t something to worry about.

They are a Stanley Cup contender as long as they have Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl leading the way. They’ve had bad Octobers the last couple of years and made it all the way to the Cup final in each of them. They won’t be here for long, and quite frankly, they could still very well win the Pacific Division.

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