Make a trade, sign a free agent or drop a player, and the 2026-27 season simulation behind Projected Standings re-runs in your browser: expected points, playoff odds and cap hits, before and after. Share a scenario with the link.
Each team’s strength is the same formula the standings simulation uses: the projected net goals of its best 12 forwards and 6 defensemen, their finishing and penalty differential, and its two goalies weighted 65/35, turned into standings points by coefficients fitted on past seasons. Adding a player who beats someone in the lineup pushes that player out. Pts/season is what a player adds over a league-average player at a full share of the games; a depth player who doesn’t make the lineup adds nothing.
The page then simulates the rest of the season 2,000 times, with the same random draws before and after your moves, so every difference comes from the moves and not from simulation noise. The baseline matches Projected Standings up to that noise.
What it leaves out: chemistry and fit, injuries, contract terms and the cap ceiling (hits are shown, not enforced), and a traded player’s new role. Free agents have no cap hit until they sign.
Every team whose outlook changes, largest playoff-odds swing first. Rivals move too: making a team better costs the teams it plays.