The NHL world entered the 2025-26 season with a singular, feverish question: could the Florida Panthers do the impossible and clinch a famous three-peat? Pundits painted the Cats as the league’s hungriest dynasty in the making, with the opportunity of becoming the first team since the 1980s to claim a third straight Stanley Cup. But drama, as ever, writes its own script.
Goalie Lukas Dostal #1 of the Anaheim Ducks stops Trevor Zegras #46 of the Philadelphia Flyers shot during the third period Photo Credit: Jack.Smart@prohockeyNews.comÂ
An unrelenting wave of injuries—Aleksander Barkov’s absence most glaring, Matthew Tkachuk, Aaron Ekblad, and Sam Bennett not far behind—crippled the champions’ core, leaving Florida’s shot at history in turmoil. What was supposed to be a march has since turned into a freefall; the Panthers, leaking goals and bereft of their magic touch on the power play, tumbled to the Atlantic’s basement. Surprisingly, though, online odds makers haven’t given up on the Cats clinging onto the mountaintop.
The latest Bovada NHL odds currently make the Sunshine State outfit a shock +800 second favorite to win the Stanley Cup this season, despite their miserable start to the campaign. Sure, some of their injured stars will return between now and the spring, but will they still be in contention by the time their star skaters hit the ice? It certainly seems like strange pricing, but hey, they’re the experts.
But in the absence of the ailing kings, the NHL has new divisional leaders across its four divisions. All of them will be eyeing up next year’s postseason with their eyes wide open, but which of them has the best shot at claiming the holy grail: the Stanley Cup? Let’s take a look.
The Colorado Avalanche
The Florida Panthers might be the shock +800 second favorites this season, but there is no surprise at all about the fact that the Colorado Avalanche find themselves as the +350 Stanley Cup frontrunners. The current Central Division toppers have a league-best 19-1-6 record through 26 games, an unholy +50 goal differential (106 for, 56 against), three consecutive shutouts, and a 9-0-1 blitz in their last 10. They’re the favorites for a reason.
Nathan MacKinnon has carried his blistering form from last season into this one with 46 points already, a pace that demands Hart Trophy whispers. He’s flanked by Martin Necas and Cale Makar, whose 32 points from the blue line aren’t just impressive; they’re unprecedented. And then there’s the defensive skeleton: Colorado allows barely two goals per game.
Their November 26th 6-0 dissection of San Jose capped a trio of shutouts, a defensive show of force not seen in years. Few teams cruise through a campaign, but the Avs could eclipse even the 2023 Bruins’ regular-season benchmark and claim the President’s Trophy in record-breaking fashion. The ghosts of successive playoff heartbreaks might linger (Dallas has been their nemesis of late), but the battle-tested DNA remains. The Cup is there to lose this term.
Tampa Bay Lightning
Few teams in pro sports wear pressure the way the Lightning do: with a sort of seasoned swagger. Sitting at 16-8-2 and riding an 8-2-0 stretch, Tampa doesn’t bludgeon its way to the summit so much as outlast, out-think, and out-execute. Their 34 points come via 85 goals (top six in the NHL), a +18 differential that masks a deeper resilience and adaptability.
Nikita Kucherov is their architect—32 points, orchestrating the game’s tempo with ice-cold vision. Brandon Hagel and Brayden Point hammer home critical plays, Hagel’s 20% shooting percentage sparkling against a backdrop of grit and grind. But it all orbits around Andrei Vasilevskiy. His .917 save percentage and 2.31 goals against average across 19 games put him among the league’s top stoppers—he’s the sort of goaltender who becomes a playoff equation all by himself.
Tampa’s core is playoff-tempered, having hoisted Cups in 2020 and 2021. Since then: disappointment and first-round pain. But teams that have tasted champagne rarely lose their scent for it. The Lightning locate their best selves just as doubters gather. With +825 odds and a high-danger scoring profile that’s become the envy of analytics experts, Tampa sits in that rare air where belief and reality collide.
Washington Capitals
The Capitals are the Metropolitan’s new alpha, sporting a 17-9-2 record, five straight wins, and the league’s seventh-best offense (3.50 goals/game), combined with the second-stingiest defense (2.46). A +27 goal differential is no accident. Tom Wilson has blossomed from chaos agent to leader of men—16 goals, 14 assists, a physical edge that tilts a series. Alexander Ovechkin, hockey’s immortal, is still a nuclear threat with 12 goals and 15 assists, every tally inching him closer to an unprecedented 1,000 goals.
Capitals forward Ryan Leonard (9) scores past Sharks goalie Alexander Nedeljkovic to give the Capitals a 7-0 lead in the third period – Photo by Jack Lima
But in 2025, it’s goaltending that could make the difference. Logan Thompson, trenchant all year, boasts a Vezina-worthy .919 SV% and 2.02 GAA. He gives the Caps a confidence anchor they haven’t always enjoyed in the Ovechkin era. The reason the Capitals are different is subtle: deep structure. The experts break down their under-the-hood improvements—better neutral zone play, disciplined penalty killing, and winning the ugly puck battles. Vancouver alum Spencer Carbery has sharpened the group’s collective purpose.
Lest we forget: this team, these leaders, have climbed the mountain before. +1800 odds say they climb to the summit again.
Anaheim Ducks
If the Ducks’ emergence atop the Pacific feels improbable, that’s because, frankly, it is. Anaheim is the league’s most exhilarating wild card: 16-10-1, 96 goals scored, 91 conceded (+5), and taking full advantage of a division that doesn’t contain a single team above .500 except them.
Credit starts with Leo Carlsson—14 goals, 22 assists, a whirling dervish of skill and bravado, while Cutter Gauthier’s 15 goals and 15 assists show a rookie undaunted by stage or spotlight. Yet their breakneck style comes with downsides: Anaheim’s 3.37 goals conceded per game is far too lenient for any genuine Cup talk. Goaltender Lukas Dostal has moments of brilliance (.904 SV%), but he faces an onslaught nightly—proof positive of a blue line learning on the job.
Absorb their story for what it is: breathtaking, joyful unpredictability, much like the 2017 Oilers or the 2015 Lightning—early, precocious, just a little wild. Their lengthy odds of +4500 feel about right. The Ducks are here for the fireworks; the parade might—probably will—have to wait.
You must be logged in to post a comment.