The 2025-26 NHL season has finally arrived! Before the puck drops, it’s time to map out our predictions.
Earlier this week, we released our Daily Faceoff staff picks for 2025-26 NHL Award winners. Now: a breakdown of our projected division standings, playoff teams and Stanley Cup Final matchups.
The prognosticators:
Matt Larkin, DFO managing editor & senior writer
Steven Ellis, DFO associate editor & prospect analyst
Scott Maxwell, DFO editor & writer
Jeff Marek, host of The Sheet podcast & co-host of The DFO Rundown podcast
Brock Seguin, DFO managing fantasy editor
Jason Gregor, co-host of The DFO Rundown podcast
Tyler Yaremchuk, host & senior producer of The Nation Network
Anthony Di Marco, DFO contributing writer
Paul Pidutti, founder of Adjusted Hockey & DFO feature writer
Jonny Lazarus, DFO digital reporter & co-host of Morning Cuppa Hockey
ATLANTIC DIVISION
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.
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STANLEY CUP FINAL
(Winning team in color)
While two of us have the Oilers not just making the Cup Final a third time in a row, but winning it – shoutout to the homer picks from local boys Jason Gregor and Tyler Yaremchuk – most of us believe the Golden Knights will overtake them as the class of the West. Vegas was already a division champ and added Marner to that elite roster, and 60 percent of the panel believes he’ll be the piece that helps them earn their second championship. The Hurricanes are the most popular pick to represent the East. Notable: none of us picked the back-to-back champion Panthers to even reach the Final. The combination of too much hockey over the previous three seasons and key injuries to Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk will make their path too difficult. But they could get their stars back in time for the key playoff games – at the very least Tkachuk. Will we feel silly for sleeping on the Panthers come June?
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