If you could buy stock in 3 NHL teams right now and hold for a maximum of five years, who would they be and why? Stock price would be based only on the success of last season. For this hypothetical question, here are our 3 answers.
Detroit Red Wings
The Detroit Red Wings play in the toughest division in hockey and haven’t made the playoffs since 2016. In that span of time, they’ve only had one player reach 70 points in a season. So, yes, it’s been a bit of a struggle in recent years. Fortunately, this means that for our hypothetical question, the Red Wings’ stock would be fairly low right now. There are many reasons to have faith in the future of Detroit’s hockey team, but let’s start with the management.
Steve Yzerman has been the GM in Detroit since 2019. Before that, he built a future two time Stanley Cup winning team in Tampa Bay that may not be done winning just yet. In the time he’s been with Detroit, he’s managed money very well, made trades that have almost always resulted in the Red Wings coming out on top, and added key pieces into the organization off the ice. Most importantly, he’s brought together a great group of young players that could be the core of a very good team for many years to come.
With players like Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond already making a large impact on the team while other top ten picks Simon Edvinsson and Marco Kasper are still yet to make their debut, the Wings have a ton of great young talent. Even their more established NHL players are still on the younger side. In fact, newly signed David Perron is the only player on the roster who is older than 31 years old. With more money to spend than almost any other team in the NHL, the Wings should be able to navigate the salary cap and resign most of these players in the upcoming years. One of those guys is captain Dylan Larkin, whose contract will end after next season. If the Red Wings want to be contenders in a few years, resigning Larkin should be a top priority.
With the core led by Larkin and Seider and the management from Yzerman, it’s easy to imagine the Red Wings becoming a powerhouse in the NHL once again. If we’ve got five years, we’re certainly buying some stock in Detroit.
Buffalo Sabres
It’s hard to imagine the Sabres being anything but terrible after years of disappointment, but the future may be bright in Buffalo. Although next year may not be the season for a big jump up the standings, we’ve got five years to see this play out, and that’s why we’d buy some stock in Buffalo.
Like Detroit, this team has a lot of money to play with. As of now, Buffalo is one of only three organizations with a less than $70M projected cap hit and is nearly below the cap floor. As a team with minimal star power and young players still on their rookie deals, this is a much more comfortable spot to be than near the cap ceiling. Having this money available will allow the Sabres to resign who they want when they need to, just as they did with Tage Thompson this offseason.
Buffalo has had some bleak rosters in the past, but this is certainly not one of them. Aside from talented veteran forwards like Kyle Okposo, Jeff Skinner and Victor Olofsson, the Sabres also have a large amount of exciting young guys playing for the big club this year. Peyton Krebs, Dylan Cozens, Jack Quinn, Rasmus Dahlin and Owen Power are all former Top 20 draft picks that are 22 or younger and slated to play in Buffalo this season. The Sabres also had three first overall picks this year, taking Mathew Savoie, Noah Ostlund and Jiri Kulich. Although these guys most likely won’t join the team this year, they could represent another crop of difference makers for Buffalo in the future.
With so much promising young talent in the organization, we’d have to buy some stock in the Buffalo Sabres.
Ottawa Senators
Unlike the Sabres and Red Wings, the Senators have already locked up their young talent for many years to come. Now, the organization just has to wait and see if these players pan out. The core is led by captain Brady Tkachuk, who will make $8.2M against the cap until the 2027/28 season. Top defenseman Thomas Chabot is also signed through 2028, while forwards Josh Norris and Tim Stutzle are signed until 2030 and 2031 making $7.9 and $8.3 million. It’s certainly a gamble from the organization, but one that could pay off big time in the end.
While these younger players develop, new additions like Alex Debrincat and Claude Giroux will help the team now. Debrincat is only 24 years old and has already scored 40 goals twice in the NHL. After next year, Debrincat will be another guy that the Senators may try to lock up in a longer contract, as his current one only goes to the end of this season. Giroux, on the other hand, may be past his prime. However, he’ll still serve a large role on this team in mentoring and developing the young guys into the best players they can be. He’s also an extremely good passer and faceoff man, two skills that don’t just disappear with age.
When looking at teams to buy stock in, the current situation is something you also have to look at. The Senators were a bottom seven team last year. With almost nowhere to go but up and the potential to go way up, the final team we would buy stock in is the Ottawa Senators.
