By: Justin Gincauskas

There is a new team atop the list of the NHL’s most valuable teams. Forbes recently announced that the Toronto Maple Leafs surpassed the New York Rangers as the most valuable team in the league. Toronto is worth $2.8 billion, a 40% increase from last year.

With only a 20% increase from a year ago, the Rangers fell to the number two spot with a valuation of $2.65 billion. Rounding out the top five most valuable teams are the Montreal Canadiens at $2.3 billion, the Los Angeles Kings at $2 billion, and the Boston Bruins at $1.9 billion.

The Kings are the team with the biggest jump in valuation, increasing 54% from 2022. The New York Islanders and New Jersey Devils are the only other teams that had the value of their teams increase by more than 50%. On the other hand, the Arizona Coyotes only increased 11% from last year and sit at the bottom of the list with a $500 million valuation.

The Buffalo Sabres have the second-lowest team value at $750 million, while the Columbus Blue Jackets sit above them at $765 million. Closing out the bottom five are the Florida Panthers at $775 million and the Winnipeg Jets at $780 million.

The average value of an NHL team is $1.33 billion. That represents an increase of $300 million from a year ago when the average NHL team had a value of $1.03 billion.

10 teams in the league have over a $1.5 billion valuation and 21 teams are worth more than $1 billion. Just last year, there were only four teams valued at $1.5 billion or higher, and just 14 teams surpassed the $1 billion mark.

It is a good sign for the league to see its valuations increasing significantly, especially after COVID-19 stunted most of the growth in the last few years. The NHL is currently on pace to have its first $3 billion team in 2024.

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