NHL Season Predictions 2025-26 (Eastern Conference)

It’s hard to believe that the first puck drop of the season is less than a week away. I’m a little sentimental of this piece, as last year’s NHL season predictions write-up was the first one I ever did on Patreon. I’ve officially been a sportswriter for one year! Thank you to everyone who continues to read along, and if you’re new here, then welcome in. Last year’s NHL predictions went quite well. I correctly predicted 6 out of the 8 Western Conference playoff teams which included another Stanley Cup appearance for the Oilers. I picked them to win it all, but they came up short once again. The East wasn’t kind to my predictions, but I feel much better about it this time around.

As always I’ll split this into two parts: Eastern and Western Conference. I’ll walk you through my playoff bracket and awards as well. This is a lot of fun. I really enjoy the liberty of providing quality content that isn’t hidden behind paywalls and bogus takes. If I get something wrong in my predictions, at least I truly believed it would be different. I’m not one to just pick a random team that stands no chance. I’m honest with you. Anyways, enough with the virtual signaling. Let’s dive into the season! I’ll also keep up with the monthly (hypothetical) betting guides. It also serves as an updated guide to how each team is doing throughout the season to keep up with my predictions.

Some ground rules about the slang I use in front of big names:

Positions

C = Center

LW/RW = Left/Right Winger

D = Defenceman

G = Goalie

HC = Head Coach

GM = General Manager

Atlantic Division

1. Tampa Bay Lightning (A1)

The Lightning were a little late to the trade deadline party, and I truly believe that introducing those additions late in the season messed up their chemistry. It was evident in their 4-1 series loss to Florida in the first round. Their long list of injuries didn’t help them out much either, but it’s time to turn the page. Jon Cooper is one of the best coaches in the league, and he returns much of the same roster from last season’s 102 point team. They led the conference in goal differential (+75) thanks to a Nikita Kucherov led offense and Andrei Vasilevskiy’s .921% save rate between the pipes. I was really high on Tampa last year despite the media’s doubt, and I still am this year. Sure their best days may be behind them, now struggling with a lack of defensive depth and a solid backup goaltender, but they’re still in the mix every season. Rome wasn’t built in a day, but it wasn’t conquered in one either. Anything can happen once you get into the playoffs. I believe the Lightning are much better equipped this time around.

2. Florida Panthers (A2)

I figured I’d just come out the gate and own up to it. I really underestimated the Panthers. While I had them in the playoffs once again (and please note I did talk about that mysterious 5th gear they always find), I did not see them steamrolling everyone on their way to a second consecutive Stanley Cup title. But, that’s exactly what they did. Not only did they do that, but they re-signed some of their most prominent players like Centers Sam Bennett and Brad Marchand to long-term, discounted deals. Sure they lost a few guys in free agency, but it wasn’t like the mass exodus of the season prior. These guys want to stick together, and that only means they’ll continue to get better. They’re anchored by Sergei Bobrovsky in goal and five elite defencemen in their 12-6 scheme. They will unfortunately have to play on without stars Matthew Tkachuk and Captain Aleksander Barkov for much of the season due to groin and ACL injuries, respectively. As for the rest of the team, the Panthers are finally a worthwhile franchise, and they aren’t going away anytime soon.

3. Toronto Maple Leafs (A3)

See you at the crossroads, Mitch Marner. He’s now enjoying the glitz and glamor of Las Vegas. The “Core Four” is down to just three after Marner’s exit: Auston Matthews, John Tavares, and William Nylander. I’m honestly surprised they brought Tavares back considering how unproductive he’s been for a few years now. Matthews continues to become a ghost during the playoffs after a string of dominant regular season performances, and Willie Nylander is the lone right winger through it all. There were some questionable elbows thrown by Sam Bennett at their starting goaltender, Anthony Stolarz, in the series against the Panthers that ultimately knocked them out of the playoffs. I will say, the Leafs were surprisingly the toughest matchup Florida had on their way to repeating as champions. Toronto typically puts a competitive team on the ice every year, yet it’s never enough to get over the top. They still have one of the deepest rosters in the league, but this year’s solutions seem to be temporary. All signs point to a future pursuit of signing Connor McDavid: the man who could put them over the top.

4. Montreal Canadiens (WC1)

In yet another hotly contested Eastern Conference wild card race, I’m rocking with the best coach out of all the teams in the mix: Martin St. Louis. A pitiful 22-win team turned around to make the playoffs in just three years time. I give much of that credit to Coach St. Louis for developing the players the front office drops in his lap. Give them some credit too, this team drafts better than anyone else out there. I’m really impressed by this roster. If you read my season predictions last year, I said the same thing. They had the 3rd worst odds in the NHL to win the Stanley Cup to start the season but ended up clinching the WC2. Even I was pretty starstruck. They decided to build on this momentum by acquiring Noah Dobson from the Islanders to bolster their defensive depth. He’ll likely pair with reigning Rookie of the Year, Lane Hutson, and the two will anchor the blue line for many years to come. Better yet, the Russian phenom RW Ivan Demidov has hit the scene. This 19-year old is a gamechanger, and the Habs’ future is brighter than the Sun.

5. Ottawa Senators (WC2)

With all this talk about Montreal coming out of nowhere last year, Ottawa was the real surprise team. At least for me they were. The franchise historically underwhelms apart from that magical 2017 run that ended in a heartbreaker to Pittsburgh. With a roster this talented, I thought for sure they would underwhelm again, but they didn’t. They clinched the WC1 and gave Toronto a good first series in the Battle for Ontario that ended 4-2. This year’s roster looks identical to the last, and I can’t name one notable exit by anyone. These guys want to play together, and the proud American Brady Tkachuk (who is ironically their Captain) solemnly swore an oath to win the Cup for the Ottawa Senators. But if the Sens really want to win the Cup outside of an EA Sports simulation, they’ll have to do a lot more. The Top 2 lines and defensive pairings are solid, sure, but the rotational guys need to step up. Some of them did last year, but you can’t bank on everyone to have a career year again. Their backup goaltender job is still up in the air.

6. Buffalo Sabres

What are we doing Buffalo?! Actually, things are starting to turn around now. Does that one-liner still apply to this year’s team like it did last year? Probably, but the Sabres have flashes of greatness. Unfortunately for them, their early season high hopes came crashing down and their 3rd Period leads were wiped out quite consistently (as I also predicted). Predictions are pretty easy when you just tell the truth! They sent their former star RW J.J. Peterka to the Utah Mammoth right before the draft, and I think he took the first plane out of town. That’s the state of Buffalo’s culture right now. Things aren’t all bad for the Erie Bros though, as they have one of the youngest rosters in all of hockey with notable players like Tage Thompson, Rasmus Dahlin, and Owen Power. They continued to add defensive depth behind Dahlin and Power by drafting Radim Mrtka in the 1st round. Goaltending is another issue, and it’s a big one. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was supposed to be the netminder of the future, but he has yet to record a 30-win season or hold a save percentage over .900. This team still has a long way to go, and the word playoffs is taboo.

7. Detroit Red Wings

I really believed the Red Wings would make the playoffs for the first time since 2016 last season, but their late season hiccups and injuries were too much to overcome. Ever since the great Pavel Datsyuk retired, the Wings haven’t put the pieces back together. Sure they have some great players like Dylan Larkin, Lucas Raymond, and Patrick Kane scattered throughout this lineup, but they’re not a great team. The whole is always greater than the sum of its parts. Let’s play the blame game and point to former Red Wings Captain, champion, and now GM (Steve Yzerman) and his so-called “Yzerplan” to get this team back to a contending level. Nothing about this plan has worked. The defense and goaltending have been neglected for years, and the carousel of coaches doesn’t offer any stability for this locker room. They have a hard time retaining players, and the free agents they attract are mostly washed up vets looking for a payday. Last year was their real chance to make a Wild Card run, but I can’t back them anymore. Rebuild incoming.

8. Boston Bruins

“He shoots! He scores! You suck!” G Jeremy Swayman heard that chant a lot from opposing fans last season after his summer-long contract holdout resulted in an overpay and .892 save percentage. His massive contract fills this team up to the brim for salary cap, and now the tank is on for one of this year’s top prospects. Fortunately for the Bruins, they control their own destiny. They have a handful of 1st and 2nd round picks in the coming drafts, so they might as well try to get at least one Top 5 pick out of all of them. They have a good system and established leaders like David Pastrnak and Charlie McAvoy, and their new coach Marco Sturm gains some respect by being a former player himself. The B’s typically attract good veterans, and they have a quality group of guys like Elias Lindholm, Nikita Zadorov, and now Viktor Arvidsson. Boston has a good roster on paper, but in the end it comes down to effort. This team flat out gave up last season. I think they’ll be a bit more competitive this year, but their spirit is still broken. Only time can heal a wound like that, and it’ll be a long (perhaps intermediate) road to recovery.

Metropolitan Division

1. Carolina Hurricanes (M1)

Is it time? Yeah, it’s time. The weakest division in all of hockey will be up for grabs once again. The Capitals surprisingly won the division last year on the back of the Gr8 Chase, but no team is more primed for success than the Carolina Hurricanes. They are 1-16 in their last four ECF appearances, and that lone win came this year in Game 4 against the Panthers. Some call it failure. I call it progress. The monkey is finally off their back about winning a single conference finals game, and their offseason moves show it. They brought in big time free agent LW Nikolaj Ehlers, and they traded for D K’Andre Miller from the Rangers. They gave up a hefty price, but when their eyes are set on a championship, it’ll be a late pick in the round anyways. I will say the Canes have largely lost my trust after fizzling out at the end of each year, but I can’t deny the expertise of aggressive forechecking and pounding the net. That’s a recipe for success. The only thing that scares me is the inconsistency of their goaltenders, but maybe they’ll figure it out.

2. New Jersey Devils (M2)

I’m waiting for the day Quinn Hughes gets traded to Jersey, but maybe that’s farfetched. The Devils hands down have had the worst luck out of any team in the past 15 years. Sure some teams lose on a few unlucky bounces, but New Jersey is met with more consistent and catastrophic ends. They’ve had the talent to make a deep run for a long time, but injuries wipe out their depth and star players year after year. These aren’t recurring or pre-existing injuries either, it’s always some freak accident or incidental puck to the face. Their luck is bound to turn around. I truly believe in the cyclical nature of things. Bad luck only happens for so long until fortune turns back in your favor. IF they stay healthy, this team will soar to new heights. Led by superstars like Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier, they also come with a good cast of roleplayers. Some of my favorite guys to watch are Dawson Mercer and Dougie Hamilton. They have a solid tandem of goaltenders in Jake Allen and Jacob Markstrom, and again, they just have to stay healthy.

3. Washington Capitals (M3)

Is there a more physical team out there? Perhaps the Panthers, but facing the Capitals is like playing chicken with a freight train. On average, their roster of players is one of the tallest and heaviest in the whole league. A lot of the new school kids only care about dangles, drops, and drags, but us old time hockey fans love the way Washington plays. Their style was evidently forced on their opponents when they ran away with the Metropolitan Division title and clinching the #1 seed along the way. Captain Alex Ovechkin passed Wayne Gretzky on the all time goals list with 44 last season (897 in his career), and the team largely rode the coattails of his success. Their offseason moves were quite limited, but they return much of the same squad from last year. They are anchored by one of the best goalie tandems in the league, Charlie Lindgren and Logan Thompson, and those two would’ve had a bigger impact in the playoffs if they weren’t fighting through injuries. Their defense is strong and largely supported by their physical play style. I expect the Caps to make some noise once again even if it’s not as loud.

4. New York Rangers

The Rangers are the first ones that I’m marking down as a fringe team. They are just on the cusp of a Wild Card spot, but this team is caught in a major transition. The first seven months of the season last year were quite disappointing for a roster with this much talent, but they rallied to fall just six points out of the WC2 spot. Many people, including myself, had them going quite far in the playoffs at the beginning of the season. After their final game, the Rangers quickly fired former HC Peter Laviolette and brought in former Penguins HC Mike Sullivan. I don’t necessarily like this move because of Sullivan’s lack of success in recent years, but it’s too early to judge. The team voted for a new Captain, and J.T. Miller will don the “C Patch” this year. The front office was also not hesitant to fire off trades to acquire more picks for some of their more notable players. In summary, the Rangers’ season can go a lot of different ways. I think they are one or two moves away from becoming a playoff team, but they are also that many away from a collapse.

5. Columbus Blue Jackets

There was a bit of magic in the air around this team last year. Their star Left Winger, Johnny Gaudreau (along with his brother Matthew), were tragically killed by a drunk driver before the season began. It was a tragedy that was on par with Jose Fernandez’s death in the midst of the Marlins’ playoff push many years ago. Yet, his teammates had a beautiful reaction: they dedicated the season to him and turned his old locker into a shrine. A team that was projected to have the No. 1 pick in the draft ended up winning 40 games and only missed the playoffs by two points. This is a franchise that has historically accomplished nothing, but this time they played with heart and hustle. I loved it. HC Dean Evason is having a career revival after a disastrous stint with the Minnesota Wild, and he said their “win now” mentality didn’t stop after last season. The team will continue to honor Johnny Hockey, and they make every second on the ice count for him. They are a blooming young team full of guys like RW Kirill Marchenko, C Adam Fantilli, and G Jet Greaves who are all primed for breakout years. C-B-J!

6. New York Islanders

Continuing with the streak of fringe teams, the Isles are another team full of raw, untapped, young talent. That is never an inclination for immediate success, but given the right environment, they could develop early. We saw that with Montreal last year, and the Islanders have the potential to create something similar. I didn’t do draft grades for the NHL, but if I did, they would receive an A+. They started by trading away D Noah Dobson to Montreal for back-to-back first round picks. They replenished their blue line depth by drafting top prospect Matthew Schaefer and my favorite pick of the draft, Kashawn Aitcheson. There were plenty of other good picks too, I just don’t have the space to name all of them. This franchise has not so far as sniffed success in the past 40 years, but the times… they are a-changin’. A lot of these old and washed up veterans are out the door after new GM Mathieu Darche walked in. Their salary cap won’t be bogged down anymore, and they will finally have the money to supply some good depth. I like what they’re working with right now, and the foundation is laid for future success.

7. Philadelphia Flyers

The Flyers have had a tough go the past couple of years. Call it bad luck, poor management, a lack of interest, whatever. Regardless, this franchise has completely bottomed out and hasn’t made the playoffs since 2020. I pin most of that blame on former HC John Tortorella and the various scandals that popped up during his time as coach, although he was not connected to them. A lot went bad at the same time. The Flyers are nevertheless turning a new leaf with new HC Rick Tocchet and a slew of young players coming through the door. It’s nice to see C Trevor Zegras and D Jamie Drysdale in the same uniform again after being torn away from each other in Anaheim. Other young cornerstones like RW Matvei Michkov and D Cam York are looking forward to a more productive year in a new system with a better head coach. Of course, this offense still runs through their Captain Sean Couturier and the ever-amazing RW Travis Konecny, who is one of my favorite players in the league. Goaltending and defense are pretty much a wash for this team once again, but I think G Samuel Ersson will be a little better.

8. Pittsburgh Penguins

We stand amongst the ruins of a once great dynasty. From 2008-2018 this team absolutely dominated the league. They won three Stanley Cup Finals and appeared in four during that stretch. Now, many of those great players hardly produce enough to justify taking them on your fantasy bench and are soon heading to retirement. One of the most notable of them being Sidney Crosby. There are rumors swirling around the NHL world about possible trade partners for him. Colorado, Montreal, and Toronto reportedly have the best chances to land Sid the Kid by the deadline. Other great aging legends like Evgeni Malkin, Bryan Rust, and Erik Karlsson have seen their better days. Really, what all of this is leading up to is the inevitable first overall pick of this year’s top prospect: Gavin McKenna, a 17-year old LW who tallied 129 total points (41 goals, 88 assists) for the WHL Medicine Hat Tigers last year. This year he committed to play at Penn State. 21 years separated Mario Lemieux’s and Sideny Crosby’s draft nights. 21 years would separate Crosby’s and McKenna’s. Are the stars aligning? Even if not, the tank is on!

Playoff Picture

(A1) Tampa Bay Lightning vs. (WC1) Montreal Canadiens

(A2) Florida Panthers vs. (A3) Toronto Maple Leafs

(M1) Carolina Hurricanes vs. (WC2) Ottawa Senators

(M2) New Jersey Devils vs. (M3) Washington Capitals

In The Hunt

New York Rangers

Columbus Blue Jackets

New York Islanders

First Round

(A1) Tampa Bay Lightning vs. (WC1) Montreal Canadiens -> Lightning

(A2) Florida Panthers vs. (A3) Toronto Maple Leafs -> Panthers

(M1) Carolina Hurricanes vs. (WC2) Ottawa Senators -> Hurricanes

(M2) New Jersey Devils vs. (M3) Washington Capitals -> Devils

Second Round

(A1) Tampa Bay Lightning vs. (A2) Florida Panthers -> Panthers

(M1) Carolina Hurricanes vs. (M2) New Jersey Devils -> Hurricanes

Conference Finals

(M1) Carolina Hurricanes vs. (A2) Florida Panthers -> Hurricanes