NHL Predictions: Every Team That Will Make the 2025 Playoffs
The 2024-25 NHL season is underway following the New Jersey Devils-Buffalo Sabres games in Prague, and the rest of the league gets underway with the official opening night on Tuesday.
So now that the real games are finally here, let's take an early look at the 16 teams that could be competing in the Stanley Cup playoffs this spring.
A lot of the teams that made the playoffs a year ago should be expected to return, but there are always a handful of teams that find their way back in after missing out.
Atlantic Division: Florida Panthers
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There has not been a more successful team in the NHL over the past three seasons than the Florida Panthers.
During that time they have won a Presidents' Trophy, made two trips to the Stanley Cup Final and won the whole thing this past season. From top to bottom, it is one of the best rosters in the NHL and even managed to get Sam Reinhart back after his monster breakout season, and did so on a pretty reasonable contract.
They can score and defend, they have outstanding goaltending and are well coached. They have no real weakness. They probably won't make a third consecutive Cup Final appearance (it's hard to do that three years in a row), but they will be one of the best teams in the league, a top contender and should be a slam-dunk playoff team.
Atlantic Division: Tampa Bay Lightning
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The Lightning have more questions than they have had at any point over the past decade, and it is understandable that people might be starting to get a little down on them.
The depth is not what it used to be, core players such as Victor Hedman and Andrei Vasilevskiy are starting to slow down a bit as Father Time starts to creep in, and they are trying to replace a franchise icon following the free-agency departure of Steven Stamkos.
But Jake Guentzel is still an elite winger, Nikita Kucherov is still an MVP candidate and there is still a lot of high-end talent on this roster.
Their ceiling might be lower than it once was, they might have to sweat things out a little more when it comes to getting in the playoffs, but there are still too many top-shelf players here.
Plus, who is going to overtake them? At the very least they are on a similar level as Toronto and Boston, and I'm not ready to say any of Ottawa, Detroit or Buffalo is capable of beating them out for a playoff spot.
They will eventually have to pay the piper and start retooling, but they are not quite there just yet.
Atlantic Division: Toronto Maple Leafs
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Will the Maple Leafs do anything when they get to the playoffs? History says no.
But will they be in the playoffs? Yes. Absolutely.
A lot of the flaws and question marks that have existed here for the better part of the past decade are still lurking, especially as it relates to how good their core actually is and the depth pieces around them.
But those are problems that will really start to surface in the playoffs when they have to try to get through an evenly matched—or better—team in a best-of-seven series.
In an 82-game season, though, there is enough here to churn out 45-50 wins, finish in the top three of the division and then torment their fans for seven miserable, grueling games in April.
Toronto is a good team. Maybe even a very good team. But it may not be a great team.
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Metropolitan Division: New York Rangers
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The Rangers are going to do what they have done for the past three years.
They are going to be a pedestrian 5-on-5 team across the board and then let their power play dominate teams and carry the offense.
Igor Shesterkin is going to put the team on his back and mask every flaw that exists on the roster, especially defensively.
Adam Fox is going to play 25 minutes a night and control the pace of the game for every single one of those minutes, and perhaps even compete for another Norris Trophy.
They are going to win 50-55 games with this recipe and probably win the Metropolitan Division.
The question is whether this formula can get them a Stanley Cup.
There might only be a handful of teams in the league better than the Rangers, and they might well finish with a top-five record in the league. The problem is going to be what happens if—and when—they run into one of those three or four teams that actually is better than them.
That is where questions about their playing style and defensive-zone play are going to start becoming relevant again.
The big X-factor here is Alexis Lafrenière. He showed signs last season of becoming a force offensively, especially come playoff time.
If the 22-year-old takes that next big step this season and becomes a superstar, that might be something that can move the needle that extra little bit they need to go from Cup contender to Cup champion.
Metropolitan Division: New Jersey Devils
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The Devils were one of the biggest disappointments in the NHL during the 2023-24 season, and it's not hard to see why.
Injuries decimated a significant chunk of their roster for much of the season, and their goaltending situation was a mess from the very beginning of the campaign.
There were still a lot of signs that this team was better than their overall record (10th best expected goal share during 5-on-5 play, for example), and they should be primed for a bounce-back year in 2024-25.
Better injury luck will help, but they also enter the season with a revamped goaltending depth chart with Jacob Markstrom and Jake Allen manning the position from the start. That is a night-and-day difference from what they had a year ago when Vitek Vanecek and Akira Schmid were trying to backstop a supposed Stanley Cup contender.
Add in a healthy Dougie Hamilton and the addition of Brett Pesce, and this roster suddenly looks really strong on paper. They should not only be a playoff team, but they also have every ingredient to compete for the Eastern Conference.
Metropolitan Division: Carolina Hurricanes
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The Hurricanes might be set for a little step backwards this season after losing quite a bit of talent over the summer.
Jake Guentzel, Teuvo Teravainen, Brett Pesce and Brady Skjei all moved on in free agency, and it's debatable as to whether Shayne Gostisbehere, Sean Walker, William Carrier, Jack Roslovic and Tyson Jost can replace that.
The important thing is that the bones of the team are all still here, while they also have one of the league's best coaches in Rod Brind'Amour.
They may not have a true superstar on the roster who is going to compete for MVP awards or scoring titles, but they are still a very good team from top to bottom where the whole is often greater than the sum of its parts.
They still need somebody like Andrei Svechnikov to take a big step forward and become an elite finisher or the type of player who can go on a heater in the playoffs and score goals in bunches.
Finishing talent and goal-scoring always seems to hold them back against better teams.
Wild Card: Boston Bruins
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Every year there is an expectation that maybe this will be the year the Bruins take a step backwards.
This year seems to be no different.
But perhaps it might actually be the year?
They still have some questions at center and whether they have anybody who can be a top-center on a Stanley Cup-winning team, but the bigger concern might be with their defensive play. That seems absurd to say about a Bruins team, and especially one that finished so high in goals against last season, but a significant chunk of their goal prevention comes down to goaltending.
Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman were a near-perfect duo and consistently covered up for a Bruins team that, statistically speaking, was average at best defensively last season.
In terms of 5-on-5 play, they were consistently middle of the pack or bottom of the league in almost every defensive metric:
- Shot attempts against per 60 minutes: 23rd in NHL
- Shots on goal against per 60 minutes: 21st in NHL
- Expected goals against per 60 minutes: 16th in NHL
- Scoring chances against per 60 minutes: 19th in NHL
- High-danger scoring chances against per 60 minutes: 24th in NHL
- 5-on-5 save percentage: 3rd best in NHL
That is a goaltending-dependent team and overpaying for Nikita Zadorov is not likely to change that. They still have half of that goalie duo with Swayman, but now he has to take on a full-time role as a starter (something he has never done before) while Joonas Korpisalo is a significant downgrade from Ullmark in the other half of that duo.
That might seem overly pessimistic, but this should still be a playoff team. It just might be a lot closer than anybody in Boston is prepared for it to be.
Wild Card: New York Islanders
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It will not be pretty. It will not be exciting. It might not make any sense. You might hate watching it. But the New York Islanders are going to find a way. They always find a way.
This team just refuses to go away and is consistently better than the rest of the NHL realizes or wants to admit.
They have been in the playoffs five of the past six seasons—and each of the past two—and did it during the 2023-24 season despite getting a down year from starting goalie Ilya Sorokin.
That might have been the most shocking part of their playoff appearance, because Sorokin has normally been the driving force behind most of their success in recent years.
Nobody is going to confuse the Islanders with a Stanley Cup contender, and they probably will not go far if they do get in, but this spot is likely to come down to them, Washington, Pittsburgh and Detroit.
The difference is going to be the fact that the Islanders have a great goaltending duo and the other three don't.
Central Division: Dallas Stars
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Even with some big offseason departures (retirement of Joe Pavelski, Chris Tanev leaving in free agency) this is still one of the best teams in the Western Conference and the NHL.
They have All-Star-level players at each position (Jason Robertson at forward, Miro Heiskanen on defense, Jake Oettinger in goal), solid complementary veterans, and an impressive pipeline of young talent that keeps working its way up through the system. Wyatt Johnston took that big step forward a year ago, and this year, it might be rookie Logan Stankoven.
The Stars have been in the Western Conference Final two years in a row, and with their roster there is going to be an expectation to not only get back there this season but also to take the next step and get back to the Stanley Cup Final.
Central Division: Nashville Predators
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The Predators were already a playoff team and added Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault and Brady Skjei to that roster this offseason.
It is easy to jump on the bandwagon of the team that made the big, flashy free-agent signings, and a lot of times that ends up working out very poorly.
But could this situation be different?
The Predators were an outstanding team in 2023-24 and had some of the best 5-on-5 numbers in the league. They were 11th in 5-on-5 goal differential, sixth in 5-on-5 expected goal share and finished with 99 points despite a down year from Juuse Saros in goal and not a lot of elite finishing talent offensively.
There is a good chance Saros bounces back this season, and now an outstanding 5-on-5 team that lacked finishers is adding a pair of 40-goal forwards (Stamkos and Marchessault) to that roster.
There is a lot to like about this team's potential. Free-agent spending like this creates big expectations. The Predators might be capable of reaching them this season.
Central Division: Colorado Avalanche
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Some of the depth they had in their 2021 Stanley Cup-winning team has been slowly taken away, but as long as Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, Cale Makar and Devon Toews are here, this is still going to be a playoff team.
The two big questions this season are going to revolve around whether Alexandar Georgiev can be more consistent in goal, and whether they will get anything from Gabriel Landeskog and Valeri Nichushkin.
Landeskog has missed two consecutive years due to knee injuries, while Nichushkin is suspended until at least November. Nobody really knows what to expect from the two of them this season, but if they are able to return and give the Avalanche something that would dramatically raise their ceiling. But that is far from a certainty.
Pacific Division: Edmonton Oilers
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The Oilers are far from a perfect team, and there are a lot of reasons to be skeptical of their Stanley Cup chances. The two biggest questions: Stuart Skinner in goal and the defensive depth beyond Evan Bouchard and Mattias Ekholm.
But there is also a lot to like about this team, especially when it comes to its offense and ability to outscore teams.
Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are MVP-caliber players, and the Oilers added two strong top-six forward options in Jeff Skinner and Viktor Arvidsson to help round out their lineup.
They have flaws, but they also have the type of players who can mask them and make up for any shortcomings on the roster. At least for a while.
Pacific Division: Vancouver Canucks
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It might be reasonable to expect the Canucks to take a step backwards this season, but I don't know that it is going to be enough of a step back to hurt them too much.
There is still a really great core of talent here, and it's also a pretty fun team to watch.
The one big concern for everybody regarding the Canucks is the status of goalie Thatcher Demko.
When healthy, he can be one of the best in the league and he showed that during the 2023-24 season. But nobody really knows what is going on with his knee injury, what his timetable for a return looks like or how healthy he will be this season.
If Demko returns and plays up to his potential? This is a team that can cause some problems in the Western Conference.
If he doesn't? That might do some damage to the Canucks' chances.
Pacific Division: Los Angeles Kings
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I am not as high on the Kings this season as I was going into last season, and we do have to start asking some questions about what this team's ceiling is as currently constructed.
The Kings have successfully rebuilt themselves into a playoff team, but three straight first-round losses and an inability to get through Edmonton is something to be worried about in terms of taking the next step in their development.
The goal-scoring is also a huge concern given the way they fell off in the second half of last season, and now the defense is a big question mark following the offseason departure of Matt Roy and the preseason injury to Drew Doughty.
Still, I like the chances of a Darcy Kuemper bounce back, and there is at least a good defensive structure in place with some potential high-level offensive players (Anze Kopitar, Quinton Byfield, Kevin Fiala, Adrian Kempe) at the top.
Wild Card: Utah Hockey Club
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Let's get bold.
Utah has a real chance to be a playoff team this season with a fresh start in a new city and with new owners who might actually be able to try to seriously compete.
They completely overhauled the defense this season with the additions of Mikhail Sergachev and John Marino, bringing in two legitimate top-four defenders who might be able to make a difference.
Combined with an improving forward group that features a couple of rising stars in Dylan Guenther and Logan Cooley, and this team might be ready to take a big leap forward this season.
A lot of it will come down to how quickly Guenther and Cooley develop, but the potential is there for a big improvement.
Wild Card: Vegas Golden Knights
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The Golden Knights ended up being a big letdown in 2023-24, falling to the No. 8 spot in the Western Conference and then losing in the first round of the playoffs.
Given the way they loaded up at the trade deadline, the season had to be viewed as a massive failure.
But how high should expectations be this season? There are some flaws on the roster relating to depth and perhaps even goaltending, and they haven't done much to add to the roster over the summer.
Jonathan Marchessault is a big loss, but they will have a full season of both Noah Hanifin and Tomas Hertl after acquiring them at the deadline.
The center depth with Jack Eichel, William Karlsson and Hertl should be good, and Mark Stone is still an elite two-way player as long as he is in the lineup, which isn't always a given.
Their window as a bona fide Stanley Cup contender may be closing, but the playoffs are still within reach.
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