The Athletic has live coverage of opening night of the 2025-26 NHL season.

By Sean Gentille, Jesse Granger, Shayna Goldman, James Mirtle, Mark Lazerus and The Athletic NHL Staff

After two years of the Florida Panthers’ postseason dominance, is the road clear for another team to win the Stanley Cup? Can newly extended Connor McDavid take back the Hart Trophy after two years without it?

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The 2025-26 NHL season is finally upon us, and that means it’s time for The Athletic to ask its staff for their predictions. Who will take home the individual awards? Who will make the playoffs? Who are the potential dark horses? Which fan base is bound for disappointment? We dig into it all, plus more.

To pick apart the results of our polling, provide context and give us a healthy critique, we’ve brought in NHL senior writers James Mirtle, Sean Gentille and Mark Lazerus, analytics know-it-all Shayna Goldman and goaltending expert Jesse Granger.

Lazerus: We are all Charlie Brown, and the Dallas Stars are our Lucy.

Gentille: Actually, the Golden Knights are my Lucy. Went with them ahead of the playoffs and clearly haven’t learned my lesson. I guess I just believe in Mitch Marner, y’know?

Mirtle: I went with the Lightning. They're deep and quietly had a big regular season last year. If Florida is out of the way due to missing Aleksander Barkov (still a big if), the Atlantic really opens up.

Goldman: Also went with Tampa, but the one positive takeaway is that we think there is a very good chance of another Stars-Golden Knights Western Conference final, and I'm all for it.

Granger: This Stars roster actually reminds me of the Lightning squads from their back-to-back Cup wins because they have elite players at every level. Mikko Rantanen, Jason Robertson and Wyatt Johnston up front, Thomas Harley and Miro Heiskanen on the blue line, and Jake Oettinger, who I think has his best season yet.

Lazerus: We are all Charlie Brown, and the Carolina Hurricanes are our Lucy. (Seriously, how cliche are we? These were my two picks, too, by the way.)

Gentille: He’s not Rantanen, Marner or Jake Guentzel, but I think Nikolaj Ehlers has enough juice to help the Canes level up.

Mirtle: Everyone be-Leafs (in more heartbreak for Toronto).