Of the 32 NHL teams, several front offices stand out amongst the rest. These organizations consistently make moves to put their teams in positions to contend for a Stanley Cup. Their general managers are bold, gambling and winning through free agency, trades and the NHL Draft.
It should be no surprise that these teams are the cream of the crop in the current NHL. Some of these teams also have a leg up in attracting free agents due to state income tax laws, weather or the fun of the city.
But success, whether through skill or luck, and being born on third base, are part of life, and thus part of hockey. It’s impossible to exclude these factors. In this sense, sports have never been fair. But this list will be as fair as it gets.
7. Carolina Hurricanes
The Hurricanes made a number of moves in the past 15 years that set them up for long-term success. They drafted Jaccob Slavin, a defensive cornerstone, in the fourth round of the 2012 NHL Draft. They drafted a steal in Sebastian Aho in the second round of the 2015 NHL Draft. Then they selected Andrei Svechnikov and Seth Jarvis in 2018 and 2020, respectively.
Arguably, their best decision was signing Rod Brind’Amour as their coach in 2018. They haven’t missed the playoffs since and have one Stanley Cup from this year to show for it. Brind’Amour has them use an aggressive forecheck and pepper the opposing goalie with shots, a playstyle that has proven effective 90% of the time.
6. Minnesota Wild
While the Hurricanes primarily built their team through the draft, the Wild have used a healthy balance of the draft and trades. Their biggest recent draft steal was Kirill Kaprizov in 2015, who somehow fell to the Wild at pick No. 135. The Wild have also drafted major pieces in Joel Eriksson Ek, Matt Boldy and Jesper Wallstedt.
The Wild’s biggest blockbuster moves have come via trade. They traded Mikael Granlund for Kevin Fiala, who was later dealt for standout defenseman Brock Faber. Initially, people thought the Wild were insane for trading Granlund, only to see Granlund struggle and Fiala improve.
Faber became a bona fide defenseman, and the Wild also got a draft pick in the Faber trade. They drafted Liam Ohgren, whom they later shipped off for arguably the best defenseman in the NHL, Quinn Hughes.
The Wild have made mistakes in the past, with their biggest blunders being trading Nino Niederreiter for Victor Rask and trading Alex Tuch, who blossomed into a top-six forward, to the Vegas Golden Knights. However, Minnesota’s swindles in trades make up for these poor choices.
5. Dallas Stars
The current version of the Dallas Stars has been built over the course of two decades. They drafted their captain, Jamie Benn, in the 2007 NHL Draft. They robbed the Boston Bruins in a 2013 trade to acquire Tyler Seguin, a move that paid dividends that are still paying out. While Seguin has been riddled with injuries the past two seasons, he is still productive when healthy.
The Stars have also been the best drafting team in recent memory. They drafted Roope Hintz with the 49th pick in 2015, and somehow landed Miro Heiskanen, Jake Oettinger and Jason Robertson all in the same draft in 2017. Thomas Harley was another excellent pick in 2019.
Dallas hit the jackpot again in 2020 by drafting Wyatt Johnston, who led the league in power-play goals last season, and Logan Stankoven, whom they dealt to the Hurricanes for Mikko Rantanen in 2025.
Speaking of Rantanen, the star right-winger is hands-down the best trade acquisition in the Stars’ history. The Stars traded for Rantanen and signed him to an eight-year extension after two other teams also on this list dropped the ball.
The Avalanche traded him to the Canes due to concerns about re-signing him. Then, the Canes couldn’t reach an agreement on an extension for Rantanen, so he became the Stars’ treasure.
The fiasco would really come back to bite the Avs in the rear, as Rantanen scored “the first third-period hat trick in a Game 7 in NHL history” to take out his former team.
The Stars have been no slouch in free agency either, as they signed now-retired Joe Pavelski to an excellent deal in 2019, and signed and extended Matt Duchene in recent years.
The Stars’ biggest mistakes over the years include signing Martin Hanzal, drafting Julius Honka over David Pastrnak and Dylan Larkin and Denis Gurianov over Matthew Barzal and Kyle Connor. But the Stars’ massive front office wins far outweigh the losses. After all, there’s a reason why general manager Jim Nill three-peated as GM of the year.
4. Colorado Avalanche
The Avalanche front office has had two large mistakes in recent memory: the Mikko Rantanen blunder mentioned above and trading for Alexandar Georgiev.
Goalie Darcy Kuemper helped the Avs win a Stanley Cup in 2022, and when he left, the Avs traded for Georgiev, his replacement. While Georgiev had one good season, it was downhill after that, as he would become one of the worst goalies in the league.
Other than that, though, the Avs front office has been a juggernaut. They drafted multiple stars in the 2010s, including Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar and Mikko Rantanen. Captain Gabriel Landeskog, who they selected in 2011, was always a core player even if he wasn’t always a star.
While the Avs got their biggest stars through the draft, their depth was built through free agency and trades. In 2019, the Avs signed Valeri Nichushkin after he had just finished three unsatisfactory seasons in Dallas.
In the eight seasons since, the Avs have developed him into an impactful two-way player. They recently traded Nichushkin, who underperformed in the playoffs, to the Columbus Blue Jackets, creating cap space while acquiring draft picks.
Colorado traded for Nazem Kadri twice (once in 2019, once in 2026) and Devon Toews in 2020. Toews is now half of the league’s best defensive pair alongside Cale Makar.
Over the next few years, they would trade for Artturi Lehkonen, Casey Mittelstadt, Martin Necas and Brock Nelson. The Avs got both Necas and Nelson to fill the hole left by Rantanen, and while neither is as good, both of them are phenomenal in their own right.
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