2025-26 NHL Season Preview

Published: Tuesday, October 7, 2025

by Ross Vocaturo

The waiting is over: the 2025-26 NHL season is underway, as the season kicked off Tuesday with a tripleheader. This season, no different from any other, has an abundance of storylines to offer from the jump: a Panthers team on the precipice of a three-peat; the first major domino to fall in Toronto lands in Sin City; multiple Cup winning-coaches behind unfamiliar benches, and more. 

With that said, it is time to take a deeper dive into both conferences, evaluating who the true contenders are and who may find themselves on the outside looking in. 

The Eastern Conference 

The aforementioned Panthers and their transitions from irrelevancy to mediocrity and now pure dominance over the years have been as unique of a case as we have ever seen; however, the road to the elusive “three-peat” already has multiple forks in it.  

This starts with captain Aleksander Barkov set to miss the entire season following ACL surgery, and to add on, Matthew Tkachuk is expected to miss multiple months as well. This immediately opens the door for other serious contenders that were unable to climb “Mount Sunrise” for the past three years in the East; likely none more than the Carolina Hurricanes.  

The Canes have yet to hoist Lord Stanley’s Cup once in their now seven-year playoff streak, and have barely even looked competitive in their three appearances to the Eastern Conference Finals in the midst of it. Their offseason included bringing in winger Nikolaj Ehlers and defenseman K’Andre Miller, the latter of which being brought in from a former serious contender-turned directionless mess, the New York Rangers.  

The Blueshirts gave the door to longtime franchise staple Chris Kreider, and in turn threw the “C" on the chest of a recently turned former Ranger in JT Miller. A shakeup to the coaching staff saw longtime Penguins coach Mike Sullivan take over the reins of his former arch rival.  

As far as other contenders in the East go, Florida’s in-state rival, the Tampa Bay Lightning, will always be poised as a serious threat as long as names to the likes of Nikita Kucherov and goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy remain as some of the league’s best. 

Contrary to the rock-solid core in Tampa, the Maple Leafs pulled the plug on their notorious “core-four” when winger Mitch Marner was sent to Vegas in a sign-and-trade. 

This came after yet another year of a much earlier playoff exit than expected, something that has haunted Leafs nation for the entirety of their league-best nine-year playoff streak with the remaining core of Auston Matthews, William Nylander and John Tavares being at the forefront of scrutiny. 

The Senators and Canadiens both made significant strides in their rises to relevancy last season, with their respective young cores now having playoff hockey experience under their belts. The Capitals are looking to feed off their division-winning campaign last season and view themselves as a serious dog in the fight as long as legend Alex Ovechkin is still lacing up a pair of skates.  

In New Jersey, health remains the top priority, as Sheldon Keefe’s club views the sky as the limit as long as franchise staple Jack Hughes can stay on the ice, a recurring problem that burned the Devils as recently as last season.

For the Isles, some hope could be had with the general management torch being handed to Mathieu Darche, and the keys to the future to first-overall pick in this past draft, defenseman Matthew Schaefer. 

Florida’s roster is still ridiculously loaded, even with the absence of arguably their two most prominent players, but in a league where all it takes is one injury to derail a season, this immediately has to add some level of hope to fifteen other locker rooms in the East. 

The Western Conference 

While the grand prize has yet to be brought back to northern Alberta, Edmonton has dominated their own side of the map for the past two seasons as well. The Oilers core, led by former Hart winners Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, lost some members of its supporting cast but still rightfully view themselves as contenders as long as the one-two punch remain with the orange and blue. 

Speaking of Hart winners, last year’s Hart (and Vezina) winner Connor Hellebuyck looks to tack on to his recent track record of regular season success and get the reigning President’s Trophy-winning Winnipeg Jets back into the dance this season. 

Dallas, who eliminated the Jets last May, showed the door to coach Peter DeBoer following another Western Conference finals elimination (Deboer’s sixth in the last eight seasons) hoping to finally get over the hump while the star-studded core remains intact. 

Other potential contenders in the West include: the Vegas Golden Knights, who continue to live by the “rich get richer” mantra with the aforementioned addition of Mitch Marner, while Minnesota is fresh off making winger Kirill Kaprizov the highest paid player in NHL history.

Colorado now adds captain Gabriel Landeskog back to the fray after a nearly three-year absence with injury, and Los Angeles is looking to avoid being bounced by the Oilers for the fifth straight season in what will be captain Anze Kopitar’s final season. 

Two teams to keep an eye out for: Anaheim, who brought in multiple experienced vets along with dynastic head coach Joel Quenneville, and San Jose, who houses maybe the NHL’s most exciting up-and-coming core led by Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith. St. Louis could also remain in the mix following their red-hot finish to last season. 

All in all, while some teams feel comfortably established as playoff locks, it remains to be seen which teams will and will not take that “next step.” 

Will perennial contenders like Edmonton, Carolina, and Dallas etch their names into hockey immortality? Are we in store for another “2019 Blues-esque” surprise? Or will the shorthanded Panthers pull off the first three-peat since the 80s Islanders. With opening night now in the books, it will be interesting to see how this year’s addition of the NHL’s season pans out.

Ross Vocaturo can be reached at ross.vocaturo@student.shu.edu.

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