NHL bold predictions 2025-26: Hurricanes win Eastern Conference, Mammoth win a playoff series

The 2025-26 NHL season is set to begin Tuesday night, and teams are gearing up for their respective pursuits of the Stanley Cup.

Free agency didn't end up being as exciting as many originally thought since the likes of Mitch Marner, Sam Bennett, Aaron Ekblad, and Brad Marchand all signed new deals prior to July 1. Still, there was still a solid amount of movement via the trade market and free agency. When it comes to the Eastern Conference, the race may be a lot more wide open with the Florida Panthers potentially being without two of their top stars for a significant chunk of the season. 

This is the time to make some spicy projections when it comes to teams potentially making the playoffs or players making a push for a certain award. Here are a few bold predictions for the upcoming season that could come to fruition when the dust settles on the 2025-26 campaign.

Hurricanes dethrone Panthers, win Eastern Conference

The Panthers have won the East in each of the last three seasons and looked like an absolute juggernaut in the process. However, the East race could be more open than it's been in quite some time. The Panthers will be without star winger Matthew Tkachuk until at least December as he recovers from offseason surgery to repair a torn adductor muscle and a sports hernia injury that he suffered last season. If losing Tkachuk wasn't bad enough, Florida also lost captain Aleksander Barkov for 7-9 months after he suffered a torn ACL during training camp. Tkachuk will return to the ice during the regular season and should be fine to play in the 2026 Winter Olympics in February. Still, potentially not having Barkov for the entire season is a brutal pill to swallow. 

As a result, this could be the moment that the Carolina Hurricanes seize the opportunity and reach the Stanley Cup Final. The Hurricanes (+450 to win the East at FanDuel) have made it to the Eastern Conference Final in two of the last three seasons, but have been eliminated by the Panthers in both of those series. In fact, Carolina has only managed to win one of nine games against Florida during that stretch. 

However, it's quite possible that things will be different this time around after the Hurricanes signed star winger Nikolaj Ehlers and acquired defenseman K'Andre Miller via trade. Ehlers should bring a huge scoring jolt to Carolina's top line, while Miller brings more offensive upside to the back end. While the Eastern Conference is very deep, the Hurricanes are the team that is well-positioned to end the reign of the Panthers as the conference's top team.

Kyle Connor wins Maurice 'Rocket' Richard Trophy

The NHL has seen three different players win the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy as the league's top goal scorer in each of the last three seasons. Leon Draisaitl, Auston Matthews, and Connor McDavid have all won the award, but it's possible that a newcomer to the leaderboard could score the most goals. 

There's no doubt that Winnipeg Jets star Kyle Connor is one of the more gifted goal scorers that the NHL has to offer. Connor has led the Jets in goals in four of the last five seasons and has finished among the top seven on the league's goals list in two of the last four campaigns. 

Connor's best performance came in 2021-22 when the American-born winger registered 47 goals, which was tied for fifth in the league. The Jets forward possesses an extremely accurate shot as he recorded a 15.4% shooting percentage in 2024-25. Connor currently has the 12th-best odds (+7500 at FanDuel) to win the "Rocket" Richard Trophy. While Connor isn't a top contender for the award, it's not out of the realm of possibility to think that Connor could be one of the top goal scorers based on his offensive acumen.

Mammoth wins first playoff series in franchise history

It was a successful inaugural season in Salt Lake City for the Utah Mammoth. The Mammoth finished with a 38-31-13 record (89 points) and were just seven points out of the final Wild Card spot in the Western Conference. The franchise hadn't registered a winning season since 2020-21 when they were still the Arizona Coyotes. In fact, Utah finished the regular season with a 14-8-4 record after the NHL returned from the 4 Nations Face-Off. 

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There's plenty of reason to believe that the Mammoth are capable of taking the next step as a franchise in 2025-26. The Mammoth improved their top six considerably during the offseason by landing winger JJ Peterka in a trade with the Buffalo Sabres. In addition, Utah also signed veteran defenseman Nate Schmidt to improve their back end. Adding Peterka to a forward group that already has Clayton Keller, Dylan Guenther, and Logan Cooley is a massive move. 

After averaging 2.93 goals per contest a season ago, the Mammoth should be able to put the puck in the net at a more consistent rate in 2025-26. If goaltender Karel Vejmelka can have another strong season, the Mammoth certainly can make the jump to the postseason and potentially even steal a series.

Gabriel Landeskog returns to form for Avalance

It's been a tough road for Colorado Avalanche winter Gabriel Landeskog. Landeskog has missed the past two seasons due to multiple knee procedures. Finally, the former No. 2 pick was able to return to the ice for the final five games of Colorado's first-round series against the Dallas Stars last year. Landeskog tallied one goal and three assists in those five games, while averaging 17:30 of ice time.

Landeskog may only have those five games under his belt since returning from a two-year absence but he was productive during that stretch with a +4 rating. Landeskog now has had a full offseason and even played in Colorado's preseason opener and recorded an assist. Landeskog probably isn't going to lead the league in points, but a 60-point season could certainly be in the cards.

Sharks double their win total

This might seem crazy on the surface, but it's hard not to like the direction the San Jose Sharks are heading. San Jose has had a losing record in six consecutive seasons with the franchise's last playoff appearance coming in 2018-19. The Sharks have had success selecting at the top of the NHL Draft in recent years as they've landed the likes of Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith, and William Eklund. 

General manager Mike Grier selected Michael Misa at No. 2 in the 2025 NHL Draft, and it appears that Misa is going to be given every chance to make the roster out of training camp. If Misa is the offensive dynamo that he's being billed as, that gives the Sharks another talented forward to use on their second or third line. San Jose won just 20 games in 2024-25, so it's likely that the team will improve in some fashion this coming season. I'm not saying that the Sharks are going to be a playoff team this year, but doubling their win total has an outside chance of happening. With the likes of Celebrini, Smith, and Eklund having another year under their belt, perhaps one of those make a big jump and that could translate into more victories.