Summer is gone in a flash. The 2026-27 NHL season is here. After a series of trades, record signings and that offer sheet, it’s time so see how all the reshuffled chess pieces perform on the chessboard.
Here are the Daily Faceoff staff’s predictions for the season, including projected division standings, playoff teams and Stanley Cup Final matchups.
The panel:
Matt Larkin, Editor-in-Chief and Senior Editor of MPO
Steven Ellis, Associate Editor and Potential DFO Analyst
Scott Maxwell, DFO Editor and Editor
Mike Gould, Writer for DFO and DFO Calgary
Brock Séguin, DFO Chief Fantasy Editor
Jason Gregor, co-host of THE DFO Overview podcast
Tyler Yaremchukhost and senior producer of The Nation Network
Anthony DiMarco, DFO Contributing Editor
Paul Piduttifounder of Adjusted hockey and DFO Article Editor
Jonny Lazare, DFO digital journalist and co-host of Morning Hockey Mug
ATLANTIC DIVISION
The Atlantic is arguably the most competitive division in the NHL, top to bottom, so it’s normal that we see so much divergence among the panelists. The Tampa Bay Lightning are the winning pick in the top division, while some of us believe the Montreal Canadiens aren’t done climbing, while others see the healthier and revamped Florida Panthers taking back the mountain. The group’s confidence in a Toronto Maple Leafs revival season is mixed, with four in ten voters predicting a return to the playoffs. The unanimous agreement: The Detroit Red Wings are desperate. It’s hard to have faith in a club that hasn’t had a general manager for most of its off-season, has yet to find a trade for its ex-captain in Dylan Larkin and still hasn’t signed RFA defender Simon Edvinsson.
METROPOLITAN DIVISION
Not only are the Carolina Hurricanes the reigning Stanley Cup champions, but they have almost their entire winning team back, and they are built for sustained success. No wonder none of us have them besides the first two on the metro. Still, almost the entire panel is excited about the Washington Capitals’ epic offseason, with half the group picking them to go from outside the playoffs to winning the Metro outright. There’s good momentum for a New Jersey Devils comeback season, but do the math: If teams like Washington and New Jersey come back, someone has to step aside, 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 playoffs, and seven picking the Flyers to collapse.
CENTRAL DIVISION
The fight for the Central will be fierce; it is the only division for which four different teams received first place votes. Will the increasingly top-heavy Colorado Avalanche stay on top after a Presidents’ Trophy season? Maybe one of the Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild escapes the dreaded 2-on-3 matchup and wins the division. But a few of us like that Utah Mammoth is improving in the standings for a fourth straight season, led by rising stars Logan Cooley and Dylan Guenther. Quite a few of us are also optimistic about the St. Louis Blues’ offseason, with five of us projecting them to clinch a Wildcard spot after adding Mason McTavish and Connor McMichael to their forward group.
PACIFIC DIVISION
Pacific is the heaviest, with several of the NHL’s weakest teams, and only the Edmonton Oilers and Vegas Golden Knights received first-place votes. Many of us believe that superstar Macklin Celebrini can improve the San Jose Sharks and take them to the playoffs for the first time since 2018-19. But we have launched a fairly significant vote of no confidence in the Pacific; 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 a newly acquired Brady Tkachuk, cement a dynasty with a third Stanley Cup in four years? They received three votes for the Stanley Cup. The Canes won’t go quietly, and the Caps were picked to reach the final by four of us, with two of us thinking they can go all the way in what is surely Alex Ovechkin’s (real) final season. If the Cup heads West for the first time since 2022-23, the Stars are the more popular choice, with one vote to win it all and two more to reach the final.
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