The Final Countdown to the NHL 2026 Playoffs

The Final Countdown

With the NHL regular season coming to a close, the playoff race is tighter than ever. Plenty of new faces will be in this year’s Stanley Cup playoffs, with some similar contenders looking to continue their dominance in the league. Young stars such as Matthew Schaefer of New York are looking to continue a stellar rookie season by bringing their team to title contention, while veterans such as Sidney Crosby and Anze Kopitar are striving to expand their Hall of Fame careers. With eight spots available in each conference, and plenty of teams still in the hunt, this race is projected to take all eighty-two games to decide who will make it.

Central Division

The Central Division is headed by two teams who have already clinched playoff berths for the 2026 season. The division is headed by the league leading Colorado Avalanche, who have had a dominant season. At the time of writing, the Av’s are bolstering 106 points with ten remaining games, lead by star forward Nathan Mackinnon, who’s posted 117 points on the year. In 2nd, the Dallas Stars have clinched their spot in the playoffs with 100 points respectively. The stars are led by their young talent, with Jason Robertson and Wyatt Johnston leading the dangerous stars offense. The Minnesota Wild have had a phenomenal season, sitting currently in 3rd place of the Central, with a twelve point lead on the 4th place Utah Mammoth. The Wild have been stellar all year, but especially since the addition of star NHL and Olympic gold medalist Quinn Hughes, having 49 points in 42 games since joining the already loaded Wild roster. Not to anyone’s surprise, Russian star winger Kirill Kaprizov is having another stellar season, posting 81 points in 72 games, leading the Wild with 39 goals on the year. 

The three Central division spots are about locked up, but the division currently holds in the two western wild card spots at the time of writing. The Utah Mammoth are currently tightening their grip on the conference’s top wild card position, posting 82 points with 8 games remaining. They have a 5 point cushion on the next wild card team, seeking their first playoff appearance since relocating from the deserts of Arizona. The Mammoth are headed by another Olympic gold medalist Clayton Keller, who has 73 points in 74 games on the season. The 2nd wild card spot is headed by the Nashville Predators, who have been a dangerous wild card team in past seasons. Their lead is tight, which we will discuss in the latter part of this article.

Pacific Division

The biggest issue with the current NHL playoff format is divisions such as the current Pacific. The division is led by the Anaheim Ducks, who have 86 points and have 9 remaining games on the year. It must be noted, the Ducks wouldn’t even find themselves in a playoff spot currently in any other division, yet they remain a top seed in the playoffs. The Ducks are headed by young star Cutter Gauthier, posting 64 points in  72 games on the year.

At this year’s deadline, they added veteran defenseman and long-time Washington Capital John Carlson, who has 54 points on the season. In 2nd place is the back-to-back western conference champions the Edmonton Oilers, who despite another strong year from Connor McDavid, have only posted 83 points on the year. Captain Connor McDavid has 124 points on the year, followed by his linemate Leon Draisaitl who has 97. The Oilers have two major concerns for the rest of their season. First, Leon Draisaitl has been announced out for the season, leaving a major hole beside Connor McDavid. Secondly, and a huge concern for the Oilers of the last three seasons, they have yet to find a consistent Goaltender to fill in the net. The Oilers traded for Tristan Jarry in the middle of the season, who has posted a gruesome 4.01 Goals Against Average and .856 save percentage in 16 games. The only positive is Connor Ingram, with a 2.80 Goals Against Average, but still rendering an .893 save percentage. Although their struggles are apparent, the rest of the division isn’t much better.

In 3rd place is the Vegas Golden Knights, who have made some extremely random moves as of late. At the time of writing, the Knights announced they have fired stanley cup champion head coach Bruce Cassidy, and have already hired John Tortorella as next man up. This move is shocking, seemingly a desperation move in order to pick up momentum for the playoffs. The Knights will have their first season since the start of their franchise and they will post more losses then wins, yet still currently hold the 3rd spot in the Pacific division. They are led by USA star Jack Eichel, bolstering 78 points in  66 games.

The Knights are followed by the Los Angeles Kings, who are looking to give legend Anze Kopitar his last playoff run before his retirement at the end of this season. The Kings are led by Swedish forward Adrian Kempe, who has 62 points on the year. While Seattle sits in 5th, a dangerous young Sharks team is trailing the Kings by three points while having 11 remaining games on the schedule. The Sharks are headed by youth, with 19-year old Macklin Celebrini posting an outstanding 98 point season, followed by fellow youngster Will Smith at 49 points. While they may miss the playoffs, they are not a team I am counting out of this Pacific race, especially when no team seemingly wants to take control of the division. 

Atlantic Division

The Atlantic Division has had a stellar year, with some unfamiliar faces joining the race. One can’t talk about this division without talking about the rise of the Buffalo Sabres. The Sabres are currently tied for first, despite finishing 7th last season. After a rough start to the year, the Sabres have bolstered themselves into a contender, and are very close to ending the longest active playoff drought in the NHL at 14 seasons. The Sabres are headed by Tage Thompson, having 76 points on the year. Neck and neck with them are the familiar faces of the Tampa Bay Lightning, who have once again surged to the top in the Atlantic.

Led by familiar face Nikita Kucherov, who has had an elite year, posting 121 points off of 40 goals in the season, the Lightning are looking to get this core another ring to solidify their illustrious careers. Sitting in 3rd is the young but talented Montreal Canadiens, who have 94 points on the season. All of the Habs top 7 points leaders are 26 or younger, and though they might not be a true contender now, they are a dangerous team to look out for in the coming seasons. Names like Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Lane Hutson, and Slovakian star Juraj Slafkovsky have solidified themselves as the next generation of stars. Right behind them comes a surprising Boston Bruins team, coming off of a last place finish in this past season. The Bruins have 92 points on the year, headed by Czechian star David Pastranak, posting 92 points of his own. This team seemingly revitalized over this season and are looking to fight their way back into the playoffs despite a strong division overall. 

Metropolitan Division

The Metro has seen former playoff teams fall, while sleeping giants have risen back to power. Not shockingly, the Carolina Hurricanes have a comfortable lead at the top, posting 98 points in 73 games. The Hurricanes are an extremely balanced team, with their team leader Sebastian Aho rendering 74 points on the year, but followed by stars Seth Jarvis, Andrei Svechnikov, and Nikolaj Ehlers. This team is extremely strong defensively, headed by Jacob Slavin on the blue line who is a workhorse for their core. The rest of the divisional race will likely come down to game 82, with the current 2nd place team being the New York Islanders, currently sitting at 89 points on the year. The Islanders are headed by Matt Barzal, at 65 points, followed by franchise rookie Mathew Schaefer, who has put up 56 points in his rookie season. The young defenseman has been nothing short of spectacular in his rookie year and seems to be headed to the playoffs with his strong performance. Shockingly, the Pittsburgh Penguins actively sit in 3rd in the Metro at 88 points. To nobody’s surprise, the Penguins are once again led by league legend Sidney Crosby, who despite injury struggles sits at 64 points in 61 games.

The Penguins have been revitalized this season, with much help from fellow legend Erik Karlsson. Karlsson has 60 points on the year, but has 14 points in his last seven games, and despite losses is continuing his dominance. Tied with the Penguins is their rival Columbus Blue Jackets, headed by Olympic star Zach Werenski.  Werenski had the assist on Jack Hughes’s goal, but importantly, has 77 points on the NHL season, and his helping push the Jackets towards a Metro spot. Sitting in 5th is the Philadelphia Flyers, who have been red hot over their last 10 games, posting a record of 8-1-1. The Flyers were seemingly out just a week ago, but their hot streak headed by 25-year old Trevor Zegras has put them right back in the conversation. 

Lovable Losers

Though some teams have clinched their spot in the race for Lord Stanley, many teams find themselves in the Gavin Mckenna sweepstakes as we close out this season. The Vancouver Canucks have had a year to forget, especially since dealing star Quinn Hughes. They have posted a league’s worst 50 points on the year, sitting with the best odds to get the number one overall pick in this year’s draft. The Chicago Blackhawks follow them with 67 points, not yet finding the strong supporting cast for Connor Bedard. The other team officially eliminated from title contention is the New York Rangers, sitting at the bottom of the Metro with 69 points, dealing star Artemi Panarin as part of a retool effort. The Rangers have been underwhelming under Mike Sullivan, and are in desperate need to retool or rebuild in the coming seasons.

The most shocking of the bottom feeders are the two teams sitting at the bottom of the Atlantic. The defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers currently sit at the bottom of the Atlantic with 73 points on the season. The Panthers have dealt with injury problems all year, and it appears the back to back cup runs have finally caught up with them. With Marchand and Barkov injured, the Panthers are clearly trying to raise their draft stock to help retool for the upcoming year. Notably, the Toronto Maple Leafs find themselves in 7th in the Atlantic, and it appears their run with their current core might be over. After Mitch Marner left for Vegas, the Leafs appeared to have enough young talent to step up and make the playoffs again, but a weak defensive core and forgetful year from Auston Mathews sent them to the bottom. With Auston Matthews officially out for the season, the Leafs will have many questions to answer about their roster’s future. 

Western Wild Card Recap

Now that the divisional races have been addressed, it is time we look into the wild card races. The west has Utah sitting atop the wild cards with 82 points and 8 games remaining, followed by Nashville 5 points back with the same amount of games remaining. From the outside in, the Kings have 76 points with a game in hand over the Predators, the Kraken have 75 points with two games in hand, and the Jets have 74 points with a game in hand over the Predators as well. Notably, all of these teams have relatively weak remaining schedule’s, with the Predator’s having the hardest, despite only being 22nd in the entire league. The Kings have a strong advantage in this race, having the easiest remaining strength of schedule in the entire league, with their hardest game coming against the Nashville Predators. 

I predict that the Mammoth will hold onto their top wild card seed, having the 27th ranked strength of schedule and a comfortable lead on the rest of the teams in contention. Notably, they have zero remaining games against the Av’s, Stars, and the Wild, the best teams in their division. This should allow them a fairly comfortable ride to face the winner of the Pacific, despite a rough stretch of play recently. As for the final wild card spot, I believe the Kings will take it from Nashville. The Kings have a very easy remaining slate, including two games against the league’s worst Vancouver Canucks, regardless of how bad they have played as of late. Notably, Nashville has lost their last three games, and have to face the Ducks twice as well as the Minnesota Wild. As for the Kraken, they have to face the Wild and Avalanche once each, as well as Utah, a pair against the Sharks, and a pair against the Kings. 

Zane’s Final West Predictions

Central

1. Colorado- Presidents Trophy
2. Dallas
3. Minnesota

Pacific

1. Edmonton
2. Anaheim
3. Vegas

Wild Card

1. Utah
2. Los Angeles

Eastern Wild Card Recap

This race has been much more chaotic, with multiple teams getting hot at the right time and finding themselves back in the conversation. Currently, the Bruins sit at the top wild card spot with 92 points and 8 games remaining, followed by Columbus at 88 points and 8 remaining. It must be noted that Columbus is currently tied with Pittsburgh, though Pittsburgh has a game in hand and the tiebreaker, so the Penguins sit in the final Metro spot. Following Columbus is a 3-way tie with the Senators, Red Wings, and the red-hot Flyers, all at 86 points and 9 remaining games. It is clear that this side of the race is going to take every game, requiring every possible point left on their respective schedules. Notably, the Jackets, Islanders, and Bruins all have a top-5 hardest remaining schedule in the entire league, with the Islanders and Jackets both getting a pair of games against the Metro leading Hurricanes. 

I project that despite a challenging remaining schedule, the Bruins will hang on to their four point cushion and take the first wild card position, destined for the 2nd highest seeded team in the east. The final spot is a challenging prediction, with a 3 way tie, as well as teams in the metro who could fall into wild card positioning. For my final wild card position, I project the Ottawa Senators will find themselves in the playoffs. Out of the teams in this race, they have the 3rd easiest remaining schedule for the season. Prior to their last two losses, the Senators rattled off four straight wins, two of which coming from the Islanders and Red Wings. The Senators have found their stride late to bring them back into contention, and I don’t believe the Flyers are deep enough to make a push with their current roster build, though they might be able to make a push soon with their young stars. Ottawa’s games are against stronger teams, though some of them may be resting stars for their inevitable playoff series by the time the Sen’s come to town.

Zane’s Final East Predications

Atlantic

1. Tampa Bay
2. Buffalo (I don’t believe they’ll end a 14-year drought as a 1-seed)
3. Montreal

Metro

1. Carolina
2. Pittsburgh
3. New York Islanders

Wild Cards

1. Boston
2. Ottawa

Recap

This season has been extremely close all year long. The young stars have stepped up tremendously, the star talents are at the top of their game, and the old guard remains strong and productive. As a very devout hockey fan, it has been incredible to watch the game grow this year and once again see stars at the olympics. The chaos of this season isn’t done yet, and these next three weeks are destined to feel as intense as playoff hockey. I look forward to watching it play out, and give my playoff predictions come April.

As always, Let’s Go Pens!