NHL predictions 2025-26: Playoff teams, division winners and Stanley Cup

With the Toronto Maple Leafs (Mitch Marner) and Florida Panthers (injuries) expected to take steps back, we have a near consensus for the Tampa Bay Lightning as the division winner…while 70 percent of us expect the Ottawa Senators to repeat as a playoff team, the group is more skeptical on the Montreal Canadiens, with four of us picking them to regress and miss…not a single one of us expects the Buffalo Sabres or Detroit Red Wings to finally break through and halt their playoff droughts at 14 and nine seasons, respectively. Ouch. And despite the return of defensemen Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm to full health, all but one of us has the Boston Bruins in seventh or lower. Maybe they secure another elite prospect next June to form their new foundation alongside James Hagens.

METROPOLITAN DIVISION

It’s the Carolina Hurricanes‘ division to lose. Despite the Washington Capitals’ dominant 2024-25 campaign, our panel calls for massive regression. Not only did none of us pick them to repeat as Metro champs, but only one of us even has them finishing second…some of us believe better health luck will put the New Jersey Devils back into the top two, while the majority expects new coach Mike Sullivan will guide the New York Rangers back into the postseason…40 percent of us think the Columbus Blue Jackets can break through as a Wildcard team after coming close last year. And pretty much all of us have some combination of the Philadelphia Flyers, New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins at the bottom. Gavin McKenna suits up for Penn State right now, and 90 percent of us expect a Pennsylvania team to finish with the top NHL Draft lottery odds.

CENTRAL DIVISION

Like the Capitals, the Winnipeg Jets don’t get much love from our panel coming off their Presidents’ Trophy win: no first-place votes and a single pick to finish second. Losing Nikolaj Ehlers to free agency and starting the year with Adam Lowry and Cole Perfetti hurt will do that…no surprise to see the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche in almost every top three. But in this competitive division, we have some pretty ahem, wild variations of opinion on the St. Louis Blues and Minnesota Wild. Both were playoff teams last year, but only two voters have the Blues making it, evidently not buying their puck-luck-driven hot streak late last year…nine of 10 voters have the Utah Mammoth following up on last year’s 12-point improvement to make the playoffs. We all seem to agree that the Nashville Predators and Chicago Blackhawks are in for long seasons again.

PACIFIC DIVISION

Almost all of us have the Vegas Golden Knights and Edmonton Oilers fighting it out atop the Pacific. But most of the division is in a blender beyond that. Some of us think the Anaheim Ducks break through and make the playoffs. Half the voters expect the Los Angeles Kings to slide out of the postseason after they had a bad offseason, and half believe the Vancouver Canucks can bounce back and get in…most of us seem to agree the Calgary Flames were lucky to even lose the last playoff berth on a tiebreaker last year, as goaltender Dustin Wolf propped up a pretty weak team. Only two of us have Calgary north of sixth…the panel agrees that the Seattle Kraken and San Jose Sharks are the Pacific’s bottom feeders. Of the 20 combined Wildcard spots we handed out in the West, 18 went to Central teams.