{"id":195379,"date":"2025-10-07T15:29:23","date_gmt":"2025-10-07T15:29:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/195379\/"},"modified":"2025-10-07T15:29:23","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T15:29:23","slug":"nhl-expert-picks-predictions-stanley-cup-favorites-division-winners-award-finalists-for-2025-26-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/195379\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL expert picks, predictions: Stanley Cup favorites, division winners, award finalists for 2025-26 season"},"content":{"rendered":"

The puck is set to drop on the 2025-26 NHL<\/a> regular season, and that means it’s time to put our prediction hats on.<\/p>\n

All 32 NHL teams<\/a> have a chance to start anew in 2025-26. While it wasn’t an overly polarizing offseason, there was still plenty of noteworthy movement around the league. The Florida Panthers<\/a> are set to defend their second consecutive Stanley Cup, and will start off their title defense against the Chicago Blackhawks<\/a> on Tuesday afternoon (5 p.m. on ESPN).<\/p>\n

Bet NHL at DraftKings Sportsbook<\/a>, where new users get $200 in bonus bets with a winning $5 wager:<\/p>\n

Following their Stanley Cup win, the Panthers had some key members of their roster that were set to become unrestricted free agents. However, general manager Bill Zito was able to re-sign the likes of Sam Bennett<\/a>, Aaron Ekblad<\/a>, and Brad Marchand<\/a> to team-friendly deals this summer. While the majority of the team is still in the fold, injuries to Matthew Tkachuk<\/a> and Aleksander Barkov<\/a> will loom large. Meanwhile, the East’s top teams, including the Carolina Hurricanes<\/a>, New Jersey Devils<\/a>, Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> and Washington Capitals<\/a>, will be looking to land a haymaker against the Panthers come playoff time and dethrone the defending champions.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

NHL’s top 75 players, ranked: How Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby compare to their peers entering 2025-26<\/p>\n

\n Austin Nivison <\/p>\n

\"NHL's<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

With a new campaign set to get underway, we have revealed our individual picks for each of the league’s major awards, as well as our playoff picks, and who will be raising the Stanley Cup in June.<\/p>\n

All odds are via FanDuel Sportsbook<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Award predictions<\/p>\n

Chris Bengel<\/p>\n

Austin Nivison<\/p>\n

Playoff seeding predictions<\/p>\n

Bengel<\/p>\n

Atlantic Division:\u00a01. Tampa Bay Lightning (+195) 2. Toronto Maple Leafs (+350) 3. Florida Panthers (+410)Metropolitan Division:\u00a01. Carolina Hurricanes (+125) 2. New Jersey Devils (+300) 3. Washington Capitals (+390)Eastern Conference Wild Card:\u00a01. Montreal Canadiens 2. New York Rangers<\/a>Central Division:\u00a01. Dallas Stars (+175) 2. Colorado Avalanche<\/a> (+300) 3. Winnipeg Jets<\/a> (+410)Pacific Division:\u00a01. Vegas Golden Knights<\/a> (+155) 2. Edmonton Oilers (+220) 3. Los Angeles Kings<\/a> (+300)Western Conference Wild Card:\u00a01. Utah Mammoth 2. Minnesota Wild<\/p>\n

Nivison<\/p>\n

Atlantic Division:\u00a01. Tampa Bay Lightning (+195) 2. Toronto Maple Leafs (+350) 3. Ottawa Senators<\/a> (+480)
Metropolitan Division: 1. New Jersey Devils (+300) 2. Carolina Hurricanes (+280) 3. New York Rangers (+390)Eastern Conference Wild Card:\u00a01. Florida Panthers 2. Washington CapitalsCentral Division:\u00a01. Dallas Stars (+175) 2. Colorado Avalanche (+300) 3. Utah Mammoth (+650)Pacific Division:\u00a01. Vegas Golden Knights (+155) 2. Edmonton Oilers (+220) 3. Los Angeles Kings (+300)Western Conference Wild Card:\u00a01. Winnipeg Jets 2. Minnesota WildStanley Cup predictions<\/p>\n

Bengel<\/p>\n

Western Conference Final: Vegas Golden Knights (+490) over Dallas StarsEastern Conference Final: Carolina Hurricanes (+450) over Florida PanthersStanley Cup Final:\u00a0Vegas Golden Knights (+950) over Carolina Hurricanes<\/p>\n

The NHL has seen the Panthers and Oilers battle it out in the Stanley Cup Final in each of the past two seasons, but it could be quite different in 2025-26. The combination of the injury to Barkov and the challenge of reaching three consecutive Finals could be what keeps Florida from reaching the mountaintop yet again.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Hurricanes have retooled their roster by adding star winger Nikolaj Ehlers<\/a> as well as K’Andre Miller<\/a> on the back end. Florida has proved to be Carolina’s kryptonite in the past, but the talent is definitely there to get the job done. Meanwhile, the Golden Knights are my team to beat in the West, especially given that the Oilers lost some forward depth in the offseason. Star forward Mitch Marner playing on a line with Jack Eichel<\/a> should be pure cinema, and Marner could be the missing piece that pushes Vegas over the top.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Golden Knights and Hurricanes would be quite an entertaining Stanley Cup Final, but I’d have to side with the team that’s gotten the job done before in Vegas.<\/p>\n

Nivison<\/p>\n

Western Conference Final:\u00a0Colorado Avalanche (+500) over Vegas Golden KnightsEastern Conference Final:\u00a0New Jersey Devils (+650) over Tampa Bay LightningStanley Cup Final:\u00a0Colorado Avalanche (+1000) over New Jersey Devils<\/p>\n

The Devils have been on the cusp of big things for a few years now, and they finally put it all together in 2025-26. Thanks to a full season of healthy Jack Hughes<\/a>, the Devils hit new heights. Jacob Markstrom<\/a> is brilliant in goal. Dougie Hamilton<\/a> bounces back, and Luke Hughes<\/a> finds another gear on the blue line. All of that helps New Jersey squeak past a loaded Lightning team looking for another Cup in this championship window.<\/p>\n

On the other side, Nathan MacKinnon<\/a> got his first Cup in 2022, but he hasn’t come all that close to winning another since then. The Avs haven’t made it out of the second round since that championship, but they buck that trend in 2026. In his first full season with Colorado, Martin Necas<\/a> thrives and sets new career highs in just about every category. The ageless Brent Burns<\/a> gives Cale Makar<\/a> and Devon Toews<\/a> more support on defense. It’s tough to find flaws on this Avalanche roster, and that’s why they will win a rematch of the 2001 Stanley Cup Final.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The puck is set to drop on the 2025-26 NHL regular season, and that means it’s time to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":195380,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[44088,88241,84446,13156,15419,18012,741,49,45339,48,748,756,758,12428,757,45347,31687,453,747,91876,12429,97056,70513,97055,763,31685,6850,8620,761,743,48001,749,751,448,18016,744,12430,45346,28430,764,82,745,746,765,452,767,754,449,97057,97058],"class_list":["post-195379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-aaron-ekblad","tag-aleksander-barkov","tag-andrei-vasilevskiy","tag-auston-matthews","tag-brad-marchand","tag-brent-burns","tag-buffalo-sabres","tag-ca","tag-cale-makar","tag-canada","tag-carolina-hurricanes","tag-chicago-blackhawks","tag-colorado-avalanche","tag-connor-mcdavid","tag-dallas-stars","tag-devon-toews","tag-dougie-hamilton","tag-edmonton-oilers","tag-florida-panthers","tag-jack-eichel","tag-jack-hughes","tag-jacob-markstrom","tag-jake-oettinger","tag-kandre-miller","tag-los-angeles-kings","tag-luke-hughes","tag-martin-necas","tag-matthew-tkachuk","tag-minnesota-wild","tag-montreal-canadiens","tag-nathan-mackinnon","tag-new-jersey-devils","tag-new-york-rangers","tag-nhl","tag-nikolaj-ehlers","tag-ottawa-senators","tag-quinn-hughes","tag-rasmus-dahlin","tag-sam-bennett","tag-san-jose-sharks","tag-sports","tag-tampa-bay-lightning","tag-toronto-maple-leafs","tag-utah-mammoth","tag-vancouver-canucks","tag-vegas-golden-knights","tag-washington-capitals","tag-winnipeg-jets","tag-yaroslav-askarov","tag-zeev-buium"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195379\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}