Sports Take

The day are growing shorter, the leaves are turning colour, the NFL is about to kick off, the march to October has started in the MLB, which means one thing. The NHL season is right around the corner. We are less than a month away from NHL preseason starting across the league and the belief for most teams is having one goal in mind, hoisting the Stanley Cup. For all but one team the season will end in bitter disappointment and the questions of what if will fill fans thoughts for years to come.

Attempting to predict the NHL season is like trying to predict where aliens are in the universe, you know they’re somewhere but have no idea where or where to place them. But I’m giving it a shot, the way I’ll be doing it is determining where in each division each team will place, and working who’s in the wildcard after. So, like with everything I write, why not? Let me know in the comments how you feel about this list.

*=Wildcard

Western Conference

Pacific
1. Edmonton Oilers
2. Vegas Golden Knights
3. Vancouver Canucks
4. Calgary Flames*
5. Anaheim Ducks
6. Los Angeles Kings
7. San Jose Sharks
8. Seattle Kraken

Central
1. Colorado Avalanche
2. Winnipeg Jets
3. Minnesota Wild
4. Dallas Stars*
5. Nashville Predators
6. St. Louis Blues
7. Utah Mammoth
8. Chicago Blackhawks

Eastern Conference

Metropolitan
1. New Jersey Devils
2. Carolina Hurricanes
3. New York Islanders
4. Washington Capitals
5. Columbus Blue Jackets
6. New York Rangers
7. Philadelphia Flyers
8. Pittsburgh Penguins

Atlantic
1. Ottawa Senators
2. Florida Panthers
3. Montreal Canadiens
4. Toronto Maple Leafs*
5. Tampa Bay Lightning*
6. Detroit Red Wings
7. Buffalo Sabres
8. Boston Bruins

These standings would set up the following playoff matchups

West
P1. Edmonton Oilers
WC2. Calgary Flames

P2. Vegas Golden Knights
P3. Vancouver Canucks

C1. Colorado Avalanche
WC1. Dallas Stars

C2. Winnipeg Jets
C3. Minnesota Wild

East
M1. New Jersey Devils
WC2. Tampa Bay Lightning

M2. Carolina Hurricanes
M3. New York Islanders

A1. Ottawa Senators
WC1. Toronto Maple Leafs

A2. Florida Panthers
A3. Montreal Canadiens

Western Conference Champions
Winnipeg Jets

Eastern Conference Champions
New Jersey Devils

2026 Stanley Cup Champions

Winnipeg Jets

In my opinion this could be the most wide open season in the NHL since the original six days of yesteryear.