Which teams have the biggest boom-or-bust futures?

Last week, Daily Faceoff’s Paul Pidutti (@AdjustedHockey on X) released his projected NHL standings for 2030, breaking down all 32 teams into four categories: rebuilders, outsiders, competitors and contenders.

On Wednesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discuss a theoretical fifth tier called “boom-or-bust,” where the two decide on which teams are one or two moves away from either being a Stanley Cup contender or a bottom-tier franchise.

Tyler Yaremchuk: If the Minnesota Wild don’t figure out the center position and Quinn Hughes’ contract situation, they could be very bare by 2030. I do think that if we were to invent a category that I call the “boom-or-bust” category, where if Minnesota finds an elite centerman and trades for Dylan Larkin and signs Hughes long term, they’re absolutely going to be a contender for a very long time.

The other team I throw back in there is the Edmonton Oilers. Pidutti assumed no team on his list would retain their unrestricted free agents, so Edmonton was knocked down to 27th, because he assumed Connor McDavid and Evan Bouchard wouldn’t be back. But if the Oilers re-sign McDavid and keep Bouchard around, I’m not buying that a core of McDavid, Bouchard and Leon Draisaitl, even when they’re four years older than they are now, are going to be the 27th-ranked team in the NHL.

I think Edmonton is in that “boom-or-bust” category, I think Minnesota is in there. Is there anyone else you would throw in there?

Carter Hutton: I guess for me, if you’re going to put Edmonton in that category, my team would be the Tampa Bay Lightning. If in four years, the Oilers are going to be bad, what are the Lightning? Nikita Kucherov, Jake Guentzel, Victor Hedman, Andrei Vasilevskiy, they have a lot of miles on them.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…