2020s vision: Stone-cold locks for next 10 Stanley Cup champions

2022: Penguins over Golden Knights

The Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang core gets one more championship in the already spectacular careers of these three with the Penguins. This one has a little extra-added drama and intrigue, as they win it by beating their former goalie and teammate — Marc-Andre Fleury — and the Vegas Golden Knights in the Stanley Cup Final. Crosby gets his third Conn Smythe Trophy, matching Patrick Roy for the most ever in NHL history.

OFFSEASON HEADLINES:

• Marc-Andre Fleury retires.
• The Penguins re-sign Evgeni Malkin to a three-year contract extension.
• The NHL returns to the Olympics with a stacked Canada team winning another gold medal.

2023: Avalanche over Hurricanes

The Avalanche are set up to be the dominant team in the Western Conference for the foreseeable future, and after losing to Tampa Bay two years earlier, they get their championship by beating another emerging superpower in the NHL: the Carolina Hurricanes. This is the postseason —and series — where Avalanche megastar Nathan MacKinnon starts to cement himself as a Hall of Fame-caliber player. He wins the scoring title and MVP during the regular season and then wins the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.

OFFSEASON HEADLINES

• Let's get bold. In Buffalo, Jack Eichel finally gets frustrated with the constant losing and asks for a trade. He is sent to an on-the-rise Los Angeles Kings team where he is the new face of the franchise.
• MacKinnon is rewarded for his amazing season in Colorado by signing a mega eight-year contract with the Avalanche.
• The Blackhawks, unable to turn the page and rebuild, re-sign Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane to matching four-year contracts in an attempt to keep their window open.

2024: Maple Leafs over Oilers 

A noteworthy Stanley Cup Final for two reasons. For one, it is the first all-Canadian matchup since the 1988-89 season when Montreal and Calgary played each other, and, two, it results in the Toronto Maple Leafs winning their first Stanley Cup since 1967 and the franchise's first in the post-Original Six era. The Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares, William Nylander core is too good to not eventually get a ring. And while the Oilers end up losing the series, they finally get their act together and get Connor McDavid enough help to compete.

OFFSEASON HEADLINES

• Auston Matthews goes out of Toronto on top, signs seven-year free-agent contract with his hometown Arizona Coyotes.
• The Detroit Red Wings break the bank in free agency to sign Sebastian Aho and make him one of their cornerstone players.

2025: Avalanche over Rangers

This is going to be a big stretch for the Avalanche. They enter the decade set up for long-term success with the best young core of talent — and salary cap flexibility — in the league and turn it into a mini-dynasty. This is their third Stanley Cup Final appearance in a five-year stretch, and it results in their second championship. While MacKinnon is the star of the first one, defenseman Cale Makar, already a Norris Trophy winner at this point in his career, gets the Conn Smythe honors. The Rangers rebuild starts to pay off, as they become a contender led by cornerstone players Kaapo Kakko and Adam Fox as well as a still productive Artemi Panarin.

OFFSEASON HEADLINES 

• Alex Ovechkin retires after breaking Wayne Gretzky's all-time goals record, finishing his career with 900. The Hockey Hall of Fame waives the mandatory waiting period and immediately inducts him.
• Gary Bettman retires as NHL commissioner.

2026: Oilers over Red Wings

After collecting multiple individual awards — scoring titles, MVP awards — Connor McDavid gets hockey's ultimate prize when he leads the Oilers to a Stanley Cup. He and Leon Draisaitl cement themselves as Oilers legends with a dominant run through the postseason that ends with a win over a Red Wings team that general manager Steve Yzerman has built into a contender.

OFFSEASON HEADLINES

• Sidney Crosby retires, and just as is the case with Ovechkin the year before, he is immediately inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. He also takes a job in the Penguins front office to remain a central part of the organization.

2027: Flyers over Kings 

It's a championship that is 52 years in the making. Carter Hart has become the franchise goalie the Flyers have spent generations searching for, and he backstops the team to its first Stanley Cup win since the Broad Street Bully days of the mid-1970s. Travis Konecny, Sean Couturier, Nolan Patrick and Ivan Provorov are the other superstars on this team, but Hart is the difference-maker. After committing to a real rebuild a few years earlier, the Kings are a contender again but can't beat the Flyers' franchise goalie.

OFFSEASON HEADLINES

• Toews and Kane retire in Chicago.

2028: Rangers over Coyotes

The Rangers' 34-year championship drought ends with now-superstar Kaapo Kakko bringing the Stanley Cup back to New York. He has become the elite goal scorer in the NHL and is on a path toward becoming a Rangers all-time great. The Coyotes, led by a still-in-his-prime Auston Matthews, have the most successful season in franchise history and remain a consistent contender in the West.

OFFSEASON HEADLINES

• The NHL announces expansion again, finally returning to Quebec City and also Houston.

2029: Red Wings over Canucks

Hockeytown is back on top of the hockey world. After bringing multiple Stanley Cups to Detroit as a player, Steve Yzerman brings one to back as a general manager. Lafrenière (2020 No. 1 overall pick) is one of the league's top players, while Filip Zadina has blossomed into a star. The Canucks, meanwhile, get painfully close to a championship but further frustrate their fan base, which remains desperate for the Stanley Cup.