The NHL's Long Journey Begins Tuesday Night
By Scott Lowe – MYHockeyRankings.com
With the National Football League heading into Week 6 and the Major League Baseball postseason heating up, the National Hockey Legue sets sail on another season Tuesday night without much fanfare here in the United States. But we’ll go from 0 to 100 mph in hurry once the puck drops on the 2025-26 campaign In South Florida at 5 p.m. Eastern for the first game of an opening-night tripleheader.
All three contests can be viewed on ESPN in the U.S. and Sportsnet in Canada, with the host Florida Panthers taking on the Chicago Blackhawks at 5 p.m. ET, followed by the Pittsburgh Penguins facing the Rangers and their former coach Mike Sullivan in New York at 8 p.m. and the Los Angeles Kings hosting the Colorado Avalanche at 10:30 p.m.
While the Panthers will raise another championship banner after capturing back-to-back Stanley Cups, they don’t appear to be anyone’s favorites as the 2025-26 season gets underway.
So Much for Last Year
Only one of 25 ESPN hockey analysts tabbed the Cats to win the Atlantic Division, with three predicting that they will three-peat as the Cup champs. Meanwhile, in Las Vegas, bookmakers have listed five teams with better odds of skating off with the hardware in June: Carolina, Edmonton, Colorado, Tampa Bay and Vegas.
Only two analysts selected the defending Eastern Conference regular-season-champion Washington Capitals to repeat as Metropolitan Division champs (and one of them played most of his career in D.C.), and the consensus among Vegas oddsmakers has Washington listed behind three other Metro teams in the Stanley Cup race. Overall, the Caps have the 13th-best chance to win their second Cup, according to the books.
The excitement and chaos that characterized Washington’s storybook 2024-25 campaign as Alex Ovechkin chased Wayne Gretzky’s all-time NHL goals record should commence once again early this season as the 40-year-old sniper chases goal No. 900. He enters the campaign with 897 and has been known for his fast starts, but he missed a good portion of training camp with a lower-body injury.
Washington is scheduled to close its home season April 12 against the Capitals’ longtime rivals from Pittsburgh in what might be the final meeting between generational icons Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby. Ovechkin repeatedly has said that he hasn’t thought about retirement, and there has been no indication that Crosby, the longest-tenured team captain in NHL history, is ready to hang up the skates anytime soon. Still, tickets for that contest already are selling online for a minimum price of $375.
The league’s older guard handed off the torch to a younger generation of stars a few years back, and that group of players, which includes Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Nikita Kucherov and Auston Matthews, continues to dominate the league. ESPN’s analysts rank McDavid as the frontrunner to win the Hart Trophy, followed by MacKinnon, Kucherov, Matthews and Jack Eichel, who had his career rejuvenated when he was traded from Buffalo to Vegas.
The newcomer among that group is Minnesota Wild superstar forward Kirill Kaprizov, who recently signed the richest contract in league history. He will be expected to carry a Wild team that ranked among the Western Conference leaders for much of last season before fading down the stretch and finishing in seventh place overall, 21 points behind the Winnipeg Jets in the Central Division.
The Jets compiled an eye-popping 116 points and continued a streak of Presidents’ Trophy winners coming up short in the postseason that dates to the 2012-13 Chicago Blackhawks. Much like the Capitals, Winnipeg isn’t really on anyone’s radar to contend for the title this year. Not one ESPN analyst picked the Jets to win the Central Division, while they received one vote among the panel to win the Stanley Cup. Vegas was picked to win the Pacific Division by 17 of the 25 analysts, while Colorado was the panel’s choice to claim the Central title, followed closely by Dallas with Minnesota a distant third.
Washington ranked second in the league in goals last year and lost only Andrew Mangiapane from their top nine forward group, but the Caps also failed to add any of the big-name free agents they pursued. They held on to trade-deadline acquisition Anthony Beauvilier and re-signed defenseman Jakob Chykrun, who had a career year after coming over from Ottawa, along with the goalies who formed one of the league’s top netminding tandems, Logan Thompson and Charlie Lindgren. The play of that pair was a big reason the team gave up the eighth-fewest goals in the league.
First-round draft pick Ryan Leonard joined the club late last season and was thrown into the fire immediately. He should have a larger impact this year, but several Capitals enjoyed career seasons, and key players such as Ovechkin and defensive stalwart John Carlson are a year older. Most experts don’t seem to think that last year’s performance under NHL Coach of the Year Spencer Carbery is replicable.
Despite winning a playoff round for the first time in four years, the Jets have yet to advance past the second round in the last seven years. They get world-class goaltending from Connor Hellebuyck during the regular season – he became the first player in NHL history to win the Vezina and Hart Trophy in the same year – but he has lost nine-straight road playoff games. Winnipeg gave up the fewest goals in the league last year and won 41 out of 42 games in which they led after two periods.
Josh Morirssey is a minutes-eating stud on the back end who leads a deep and experienced Winnipeg defensive corps and recorded 62 points. The Jets had the NHL’s third-best offense and top powerplay last season, scoring four or more goals in 38 of their victories. Kyle Connor topped the 40-goal plateau and nearly recorded 100 points, while Mark Scheifele notched a career-best 87 points. The team will have to replace the 24 goals scored by Nikolaj Ehlers, who bolted for Carolina, but for the Jets to be completely written off seems outlandish as they only have the 10th-best shot at winning the Stanley Cup, according to oddsmakers.
So, if last year’s top two regular-season teams aren’t considered favorites – and the team that has won the last two championships isn’t thought of as a frontrunner – what gives? Which teams are most likely to make a run for the greatest trophy in sports?
While Washington and Winnipeg kept most of their rosters intact, Florida already has been bitten by the injury bug. Superstar forwards Matthew Tkachuk and Aleksander Barkov both begin the season on the injured list; Tkachuk should be back by the new year from a severe groin injury, while Barkov will miss a minimum of seven months because of torn knee ligaments.
That explains some of the skepticism surrounding the Panthers this season, but they weathered the storm without Tkachuk for the second half of last year and still rallied to capture their second Stanley Cup.
What’s Up Out West?
In the West, Colorado and Edmonton are loaded as usual, but the Oilers have played a ton of hockey the last two years while twice coming up short in the Finals. They also still haven’t solved their goaltending questions and lost some glue guys with the departure of Connor Brown, Coey Perry and Evander Kane, But they’ve posted four straight 100-plus point seasons and have the most potent one-two punch in the sport in McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. They also brought in Mangiapane, who can contribute on both ends of the ice anywhere in the lineup.
Colorado has MacKinnon and will have captain Gabriel Landeskog back for the full season after he rejoined the club following a long absence during the postseason. Cale Makar will continue to be a Norris Trophy candidate for many years, and fellow defenseman Devon Toews plays at nearly an elite level every night. Maybe 40-year-old newcomer Brent Burns will provide some of the grit and leadership the team needs, but can goaltenders Mackenize Blackwood and Scott Wedgewood, who were a nice upgrade between the pipes last year, lead this group to a title?
Along with Edmonton and Colorado, the Vegas Golden Knights are thought to be among the NHL’s top title contenders. Oddsmakers have those three teams ranked among the top five overall, with Dallas not far behind.
Vegas may have the offensive firepower to compete with Colorado and Edmonton after trading for Mich Marner, who has recorded between 85 and 102 points each of the last four seasons. VGK is solid on the blue line, too, but the loss of veteran Alex Pietrangelo for the season following hip surgery will leave the defense in the very capable hands of Shea Theodore, Noah Hanifin and Brayden McNabb. Aidan Hill isn’t a household name in goal, but he posted 35 wins after taking over as the full-time starter last season to go along with four shutouts.
Still, none of the goalies on the Edmonton, Colorado or Vegas rosters have the career resumes of Hellebuyck or Jake Oettinger of the Dallas Stars. Those two backstopped Team USA to the Four Nations Faceoff gold-medal game last February and figure to be in net for the U.S. at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Oettinger is considered by many to be a top contender for the Vezina Trophy. Ironically, seven ESPN analysts favored him to win the award, while not one chose Hellebuyck. Oettinger received two fewer votes than Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasilevsky and three more than New York’s Igor Shesterkin.
Like Hellebuyck, the postseason has been a bit of a roller-coaster ride for Oettinger, however, while Vasilevskiy and Sergei Bobrovsky have led Florida’s teams to multiple Stanley Cups. Oettinger’s performance in last year’s conference finals led his coach, Pete DeBoer, to openly criticize him after Dallas was eliminated by Edmonton. That didn’t sit well in the locker room apparently, and DeBoer was the one ultimately sent packing.
Love him or hate him, DeBoer is a tremendous in-game strategist who has taken many teams deep into the playoffs. While his comments may have made it impossible for the Stars to bring him back, will new coach Glen Gulutzan be able to lead Dallas to a fourth straight 100-point season and beyond the conference finals?
That likely will depend on how well Oettinger plays in April, May and June since Dallas has a strong mix of youth and experience and a balanced lineup that was enhanced by the addition of Mikko Rantanen, a talented forward and clutch playoff performer, at the trade deadline last season.
The Stars knocked Colorado out of the playoffs while playing without No. 1 defenseman Mikko Heiskanen and top forward Jason Robertson. Dallas is deep and can play any style required on a given night. If Oettinger can find his game at the right time, Dallas will be dangerous again.
Eastern Expectations
Moving over to the East, goaltending has never been a problem for Tampa Bay thanks to Vasilevskiy, the fastest goalie ever to record 300 victories. He has won the Vezina and been a finalist multiple times while also leading the Lighting to two Stanley Cups. Coaching also never has been an issue there as Jon Cooper also has been a part of two Cup-winning teams and is thought of as one of the brightest minds in the sport.
Offense? The Lightning led the league in scoring a year ago, and Tampa Bay still has Nikita Kucherov, three-time winner of the Art Ross Trophy, two-time recipient of the Ted Lindsay Award and the 2019 Hart Trophy winner. At 32, if he's not the best player in the world, he’s in the top three. Oh, and there’s also Brayden Point (42 goals) and Jake Guentzel (41 goals), both of whom will represent their native countries at the Olympics.
And of course, any defensive unit is going to be boosted by one of the world’s top goalies. The Lighting allowed nearly 70 fewer goals last year than during the previous campaign, and they still have one of the best – and biggest - D-men in the game with Victor Hedman, who notched 66 points, patrolling the blue line. He’s joined by Darren Raddysh, Eric Cernak and Ryan McDonough to comprise a strong top four.
Looking at the rest of the teams considered to be contenders in the East, we find three successful regular-season teams that can’t seem to get it done in the playoffs in Carolina, New Jersey and Toronto. The Carolina Hurricanes are the odds-on favorites to win the Stanley Cup this year, according to the Vegas books, but they were chosen by only by one ESPN analyst as Colorado, Vegas, Dallas, Florida and Edmonton received more votes.
Carolina’s postseason failures are baffling to many because the Canes play a solid two-way style, are hard to play against and get tons of pucks to the net. Their style seems like an approach that would be conducive to postseason success.
Head coach Rod Brind’Amour is widely respected and loved in the locker room. There’s plenty of offensive talent with players like Andrei Svechnikov, Sebastian Aho, Seth Jarvis and Logan Stankoven. The forward depth was improved with the addition of Ehlers, and the Canes already deep defensive group got better with K’Andre Miller coming on board to join Jacob Slavin, Sean Walker and Shayne Gostisbehere.
Unfortunately for all the Caniacs, Carolina is another team that been plagued by postseason goaltending inconsistency. When healthy, Frederik Andersen can stand on his head with the best of them, but he can’t seem to make it through the postseason unscathed. And when he is available in the spring, he never seems to be in top game form. There wasn’t much available on the free-agent goalie market this summer, so Carolina stuck with Andersen and backup Pyotr Kochetkov. Maybe they can share the workload during the regular season so that Andersen is at full strength for the playoffs. If that happens, Carolina’s chances should be as good as anyone’s.
That brings us to Toronto and New Jersey, The Devils were picked to finish second in the Metro Division by the ESPN crew, while the Maple Leafs also earned the second spot behind Tampa Bay in the Atlantic.
New Jersey has a strong core of young players led by Jack and Luke Hughes, Nico Hischier and Jesper Bratt. Their defense has a nice mix of youth, experience, strong skaters, offensive ability and size. Last year, the Devils struggled to score goals, a situation made worse by a season-ending injury to Jack Hughes. The impact of that loss was compounded by injuries to the defensive unit and goaltender Jacob Markstrom.
Despite the adversity, New Jersey still gave up the fifth-fewest goals in the league, which bodes well for their postseason hopes since just having Hughes back in the lineup will improve the overall offensive production The Devils added some grit and skill by bringing in Connor Brown from Edmonton along with Evgenii Dadonov, who has moved right into a top-line wing spot. Goalies Markstrom and Jake Allen compare favorably with just about any tandem in the league. Markstrom struggled last season after returning from a knee sprain, but if he and the team can stay healthier this season, New Jersey should be a tough out in April.
Finally, we come to the Maple Leafs. Toronto’s postseason futility has been well-documented, so there is no need to dwell on that here. After much heartbreak and many failures, they hired a coach who was won a Stanley Cup in the last seven years and sent a message by shaking up their talented, but underachieving, core of players that isn’t getting any younger.
The Maple Leafs have the longest current streak of postseason appearances in the NHL (nine), but they dropped yet another Game 7 in the second round against Florida last year. The fallout from that setback caused them to send Marner to Vegas, but now that he is gone, we can expect Matthew Knies to take yet another step forward after scoring 29 goals playing alongside Matthews last season. William Nylander turned in a career year with 45 goals, and John Tavares tallied 38 times. The addition of Nic Roy and Matias Maccelli may provide head coach Craig Berube with a deeper group of two-way forwards that might have to work harder for goals but should be more defensively responsible.
Toronto is fine in its own end – the Leafs allowed the eighth-fewest goals in the NHL a year ago – but lacks offensive ability among its defensemen. The defensemen are physical and excel at blocking shots, which helped goaltender Anthony Stolarz develop into a more-than-dependable starting goalie before a concussion knocked him out of the playoffs. He allowed just 14 goals in six first-round playoff games vs. Ottawa after a strong regular season. Inconsistent goaltending has crushed the Leafs’ playoff hopes many times, so if Stolarz can continue to play at that level and the team can add a piece or two at the deadline, maybe this can be the year?
We won’t know until June, but the long journey begins Tuesday night. And when the puck drops, every team still has hope.
Enjoy the 2025-26 season!
