Top Five Forward Groups in the NHL's Eastern Conference

The rosters of the NHL’s Eastern Conference teams are beginning to solidify in advance of the league’s March 3 trade deadline, with the New York Rangers and Toronto Maple Leafs making big-time moves in the past couple of weeks. 

While there’s almost a guarantee more Eastern teams will be active on the trade front in the next nine days, it’s still a good time to take stock of the best teams in the conference and judge which teams have the best group of forwards at the moment. 

There’s an argument to be made for at least three teams having the best forward unit, but we’ve narrowed it down to the top five groups of forwards.

The Devils have thrived this year because they have tremendous depth and balance among their forward unit, and they’re believed to be one of the front-runners to acquire star Sharks winger Timo Meier. However, they’re still a young collection of forwards – eight of their top 12 forwards are 25 years old or younger – and as such, they’re not an experienced group at the NHL level.

Meanwhile, the Lightning also have a group of forwards with excellent balance, but they’re the opposite of the Devils as far as age goes: seven of their top 12 forwards are 29 years old or older. It wouldn’t surprise us to see the Bolts and the Devils act to deepen their collection of forwards, with New Jersey striking for a top-six winger and Tampa adding a veteran for their bottom-six forwards. Either way, whoever takes the two teams on in the post-season will have to contend with a great deal of talent up front.

The Hurricanes don’t have an abundance of generational talent at forward, but they do have a slick, speedy forward group that comes at opponents in waves. And, with more than $10.1 million in available salary cap space by the trade deadline per CapFriendly, they’re almost assured to be a mover and shaker regarding trades.

Carolina has all of its first-round draft picks in each of the next three years, and they’ve got an above-average group of prospects to add in any trade for an experienced forward. A veteran like Philadelphia’s James van Riemsdyk or Chicago’s Patrick Kane makes sense for the Canes, who are in win-now mode and could move up this list of the best forward units in the next week or so. GM Don Waddell knows what his team needs most, and that’s a proven quantify at forward.

Landing sniper Vladimir Tarasenko from St. Louis on Feb. 9 is probably the biggest move the Rangers will make before the trade deadline, but man, what a move it was. The Blueshirts are essentially capped out, with just $908,000 in cap space to use by the deadline, but with Tarasenko and reacquired Tyler Motte on board, they have one of the better forward groups in the game. The only reason they’re not higher up on this list is that journeyman forward Jimmy Vesey is currently in their top six forwards, and Vesey is not a top-six forward on any of the teams we’re ranking in the top five forward groups in the East.

Still, the Rangers have an elite top-four group of forwards (Artemi Panarin, Tarasenko, Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad) that can pick apart the opposition's defensive attack and make life easier on star goalie Igor Shesterkin. They could use some improved output from their bottom three forwards, but they also have youngsters whose NHL careers are still in the process of blossoming. The Rangers have the best group of forwards in the Metropolitan Division, but the two teams ahead of them in this ranking have more depth and a better overall force on offense.

One of the key reasons the Bruins have been the NHL’s best franchise this season is the degree of depth they’ve got up front. All four of their forward lines have made significant contributions on offense. While there are players who aren’t thriving the way most of their forwards are thriving – third-line winger Craig Smith and fourth-liner A.J. Greer aren’t elite forces for them – the Bruins will have $1 million in cap space by the deadline to upgrade their roster.

That said, there’s a belief out there that Boston GM Don Sweeney will use his cap space to acquire a veteran defenseman, such as Columbus’ Vladislav Gavrikov. But that’s only going to make them a more well-rounded team. They really don’t need to be notably better as far as their forwards go.

Prior to last Friday’s blockbuster deal that brought former Blues forwards Ryan O’Reilly and Noel Acciari to Toronto, the Leafs wouldn’t be the top team on this list. But Toronto GM Kyle Dubas recognized the prime area for improving his team was at forward, and he’s made a terrific move to bolster his top-12 group up front.

Now, with O’Reilly and Acciari in Blue and White, the Leafs have a staggering amount of skill at forward. Toronto’s top-six forwards – wingers Michael Bunting, William Nylander and Mitch Marner, and centers/forwards Auston Matthews, O’Reilly and John Tavares – are as elite as it gets in the game today. And the $4.4 million the Leafs have in cap space before the trade deadline may be used by Dubas to make their bottom-six forwards all the more dangerous. 

There may be an opportunity to use that cap space to make their defense corps edgier, but it will likely be easier for Toronto to get even better at forward. The Leafs have struck once on the trade front already, but they’re hungry enough to make additional moves by March 3. That should terrify their opponents in the remainder of the regular season and in the playoffs.