Updating our 2026 Stanley Cup picks after the NHL trade deadline

The NHL Trade Deadline has passed, and the arms race is complete. After assessing all the upgrades made leaguewide…Who is your updated Stanley Cup pick, post deadline?

Only one analyst correctly called the Florida Panthers as the eventual winner after last year’s deadline. Will anyone be right this year? Here’s what our Daily Faceoff Roundtable has to say:

STEVEN ELLIS: I hate defaulting to the top team in the league. But after adding Nazem Kadri, without really messing with the rest of the lineup, I love what the Colorado Avalanche did this week. They’re so lethal at every position, and we know how good Kadri was back in 2022. He’ll be hungry to get back to the top after a few rough years in Calgary, results-wise. We often see the best moves aren’t the big ones – but I think Colorado made the right splash they needed to be truly scary down the middle.

MATT LARKIN: I’m tempted to say the Tampa Bay Lightning just to be different, but I have to be honest here. The Colorado Avalanche’s depth chart at center is now Nathan MacKinnon, Brock Nelson, Nazem Kadri and Nicolas Roy. Their power play has been an absolute bugaboo this season, but Kadri might help there. Among all the other top contenders, no team came close to the upgrades Colorado made, and that pulls them away from the pack for me. 

PAUL PIDUTTI: It has little to do with their trade deadline, but after all of the dust has settled, I think the Carolina Hurricanes remain in an ideal position. GM Eric Tulsky’s only move was adding 35-year-old depth option Nicolas Deslauriers, hardly a needle-mover. But the Metro Division lacks a heavyweight threat, so the Canes will have a breezy path to the Conference Final on paper. They’ve banked significant experience through past playoff adversity — eight postseason rounds in the last three seasons alone. I’m banking on the Western Conference teams beating each other up, Tampa Bay’s aging group looking old in the playoffs for a fourth straight year, and Rod Brind’Amour’s relentless crew finally breaking through and going all the way.

SCOTT MAXWELL: There are four teams I’ve considered to be possible Cup contenders all season, and I’ve flipped between the Avalanche and the Lightning all season, usually favoring Tampa Bay because I think Colorado’s regular-season performance will spell some regression. We’ve seen that a bit recently (they’re only 11-8-2 since the start of the new year), but often times that regression comes in the playoffs. They did make the biggest addition out of the top teams with Kadri, while Nick Blankenburg and Brett Kulak are sneaky good depth defenseman adds, so they certainly improved the most at the deadline. Still, the Lightning have been going toe-to-toe with the Avs this season while injured, so their big additions may just be getting healthy. But then again, they added Corey Perry, which basically guarantees they’ll lose in the Stanley Cup Final. It’s a tough pick, but my gut is still saying the Tampa Bay Lightning, so I’m going to stick with them.

I will also give a shoutout to the Utah Mammoth, who are much closer to Cup contention than many people may think, and also made a big splash by adding MacKenzie Weegar. If they can make the playoffs and possibly get that first Wild Card spot that puts them in the Pacific Division bracket, they have a chance to make a lot of noise.

ANTHONY TRUDEAU: It’s hard to argue with Colorado’s moves, but I’ll nonetheless join Scott on team Tampa Bay Lightning. The Atlantic leaders may be slumping now (1-4-0 since the break), but bringing Perry back into the fold gives Tampa true four-line depth for the first time since their last Cup Final appearance, and Brayden Point is back to playing like Brayden Point (4 G, 7 P in last 5 GP) after an injury-hit first half. All those defensive injuries earlier in the year will give Tampa nine (!) battle-tested blue line options in the playoffs in front of Andrei Vasilevskiy, by far the most pedigreed goalie among playoff locks. It’s a big year for the ‘Big Cat,’ who will have heard the “bubble merchant” jibes by now. With the Florida boogeyman almost certainly out of the way, I don’t see how another squad in the East really gets to Vasilevskiy. The Lightning will stay fresh enough to take back their trophy against whichever team escapes the Central Division bracket.

MIKE GOULD: I’ve been banging my fists on the table for the Buffalo Sabres all season long, and I’m not going to stop now. I’ll be honest: I thought they dodged a bullet when Colton Parayko rejected that trade from the St. Louis Blues. I was worried that he would disrupt the chemistry in their top four, which has been excellent this season, and I hated the idea of them giving up Radim Mrtka and a first-rounder to get him. With that in mind, I really liked how they pivoted to Logan Stanley, even though his underlyings have never been great. First off, they gave up substantially less in that deal, and I do like the fit next to Michael Kesselring on the third pair. Entering the deadline, I thought the Sabres were a couple defensemen away from being a true contender. Here we are. I like them against anyone else in the East.