NHL predictions 2026-27: Playoff teams, division winners and Stanley Cup
The summer is gone in a flash. The 2026-27 NHL season has arrived. After a flurry of trades, record-breaking signings and that offer sheet, it’s time so see how all the reshuffled chess pieces fare on the board.
Behold, Daily Faceoff’s staff predictions for the season, including projected division standings, playoff teams and Stanley Cup Final matchups.
The panel:
Matt Larkin, DFO managing editor & senior writer
Steven Ellis, DFO associate editor & prospect analyst
Scott Maxwell, DFO editor & writer
Mike Gould, Writer for DFO and DFO Calgary
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
The Atlantic is arguably the NHL’s most fiercely competitive division, top to bottom, so it’s fitting that we see so much variance among the panelists. The Tampa Bay Lightning are the high-floor division winner pick, whereas some of us believe the Montreal Canadiens aren’t done ascending, while others have the healthier, revamped Florida Panthers reclaiming the mountain. The group’s confidence in a Toronto Maple Leafs revival season is divided, with four of 10 voters predicting a return to the playoffs. The unanimous agreement: the Detroit Red Wings are hopeless. It’s hard to have faith in a club that had no GM for most of its offseason, hasn’t yet found a trade for its ex-captain in Dylan Larkin and still hasn’t signed RFA defenseman Simon Edvinsson.
METROPOLITAN DIVISION
Not only are the Carolina Hurricanes the defending Stanley Cup champions, but they have almost their entire winning squad returning, and they’re built for sustained success. No wonder none of us has them outside the top two in the Metro. Yet pretty much the entire panel is excited for the Washington Capitals’ epic offseason, with half the group picking them to jump from outside the playoffs to winning the Metro outright. There’s a decent amount of momentum for a New Jersey Devils comeback season, but do the math: if teams like Washington and New Jersey make it back in, someone has to slide out, and the group isn’t buying what the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers did last season, with eight voters predicting the Pens to miss the postseason, with seven picking the Flyers to tumble out.
CENTRAL DIVISION
The fight for the Central will be fierce; it’s the only division for which four different teams got first-place votes. Will the increasingly top-heavy Colorado Avalanche stay on top after a Presidents’ Trophy season? Maybe one of the loaded Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild escapes the dreaded 2-versus-3 matchup and wins the division. But a couple of us like the Utah Mammoth to improve in the standings for a fourth consecutive season, led by rising stars Logan Cooley and Dylan Guenther. A fair number of us are also bullish on the St. Louis’ Blues offseason, with five of us tabbing them to snag a Wildcard berth after adding Mason McTavish and Connor McMichael to their forward group.
PACIFIC DIVISION
The Pacific is top heavy, featuring several of the NHL’s weakest teams, and only the Edmonton Oilers and Vegas Golden Knights got first-place votes. Many of us believe superstar Macklin Celebrini can level up the San Jose Sharks and drag them into the playoffs for the first time since 2018-19. But we’ve given the Pacific a pretty big vote of non-confidence; we had 20 combined Wildcard spots to award the Western Conference, and only four went to Pacific teams.
STANLEY CUP FINAL
(winning team in color)
Will the Panthers, with a healthy Aleksander Barkov and freshly acquired Brady Tkachuk, cement a dynasty with a third Stanley Cup in four years? They received a panel-high three Stanley Cup votes. The Canes won’t go quietly, and the Caps were picked to reach the Final by four of us, with two believing they can go all the way in what is surely Alex Ovechkin’s (actual) final season. If the Cup goes West for the first time since 2022-23, the Stars are the most popular choice, with one vote to win it all and two more to reach the Final.
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