Updated 2026 NHL Playoff Predictions and Bracket Breakdown

The NHL returns from its Olympic break on Wednesday and will be kicking off the stretch run of the 2025-26 NHL regular season.

While some playoff spots are still very much up for grabs, we are starting to get a good sense of which teams are settling into playoff positions and which are probably looking ahead to next season.

Realistically speaking, there might only be three teams competing for two playoff spots in the Eastern Conference race.

The Columbus Blue Jackets are making a big push to either overtake the Boston Bruins for a wild-card spot or even the New York Islanders in the Metropolitan Division race.

The Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins are also trying to hold onto spots, but they have built up a bit of a cushion. The Penguins also have games in hand on many teams behind them in the standings.

The Western Conference has a bit more at stake with its wild-card and Pacific Division races. The Anaheim Ducks, Seattle Kraken, Utah Mammoth, and Los Angeles Kings are all fighting for spots, while the San Jose Sharks are still lurking with young superstar Macklin Celebrini.

So, let's try to predict what the playoff matchups might look like as the season sits today.

Keep in mind, these projected matchups are predictions of what we think might happen and how the playoff picture might shape up. It is not a look at the current playoff matchups based on the standings as of Tuesday.

Atlantic Division: Tampa Bay Lightning vs. (WC2) Columbus Blue Jackets

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Tampa Bay Lightning (Atlantic Division 1 seed)

The Lightning have been something of a marvel this season, racing out to the top spot in the Atlantic Division, creating a gap between them and the rest of the division.

And doing so with some major injuries on defense for most of the first half of the season.

They still have elite high-end forwards, a franchise goalie in Andrei Vasilevskiy who is having a big season, and their defense is starting to get healthy.

You also have to assume that, at some point between now and the March 6 trade deadline, they are going to find a way to add somebody else to help their roster and add some more forward depth.

It has been a few years since they advanced in the playoffs, but they still have the talent and the core players to be serious Stanley Cup contenders.

Columbus Blue Jackets (Wild Card 2)

This projects a change in the bottom wild-card spot, but given how Columbus has played since its in-season coaching change, it is not something to rule out.

Right now, Boston has the second wild-card spot, but it's a flawed team that seems to be overachieving. There is also an element of smoke-and-mirrors to the Bruins' success, given their lack of forward depth, some poor underlying numbers, and the absence of impact players beyond David Pastrnak and Morgan Geekie.

Columbus has been surging ever since Rick Bowness took over and seems to be back on track after a brutal start to the season. It made a push a year ago and ultimately fell short. This year, it gets the job done.

Columbus is a top-half team in the league in pretty much every major 5-on-5 possession and scoring-chance metric and seems to have the momentum to keep it going.

Boston, meanwhile, has been wildly inconsistent all season and seems just as likely to lose eight games in a row as it is to win a few.

Atlantic Division: Detroit Red Wings vs. Montreal Canadiens

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Detroit Red Wings (Atlantic 2)

Finally, the Yzerplan might be producing some results.

The Red Wings still have some major flaws beyond their top players, but the core of Lucas Raymond, Dylan Larkin, Moritz Seider, and Alex DeBrincat is carrying this team to a playoff spot to potentially end the nearly decade-long postseason drought.

General manager Steve Yzerman has more salary cap space than any team in the NHL to work with going into the trade deadline, a full allotment of future first-round draft picks to deal from, and still a pretty respectable prospect pool. There is no excuse for him not to get this team the extra help it needs to secure a playoff spot.

Montreal Canadiens (Atlantic 3)

The Canadiens have one of the best young cores in the NHL with Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki, Juraj Slafkovsky, Ivan Demidov, and Lane Hutson leading the way. They took a huge step forward a year ago. They look even better this season.

The offseason addition of Noah Dobson only solidified that core, and the playoffs seem to be on the horizon for the second year in a row.

Now that the Canadiens have pretty clearly established themselves as a playoff team, the next step is actually winning in the playoffs.

Given the way the Atlantic Division is shaking out right now, this seems like a likely first-round Original Six matchup, with one of these teams getting through to the second round.

Metropolitan Division: Carolina Hurricanes vs. Buffalo Sabres

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Carolina Hurricanes (Metropolitan 1)

Another year, another season of the Hurricanes going into the playoffs as one of the league's most rock-solid teams with Stanley Cup aspirations.

The question is whether this is the year when they kick down the door and reach the Stanley Cup Final.

Carolina does everything well: respectable offense, lockdown defense, and solid goaltending.

The whole is greater than the sum of the parts when it comes to star power, and there is simply no obvious weakness anywhere on the roster.

The only thing they might need is another big-time finisher or star to help turn even more of that territorial and puck possession dominance into goals.

They have the salary-cap space and draft pick capital to be aggressive, and if the past two trade deadlines are any indication, they figure to make another major move this season.

Buffalo Sabres (Wild Card 2)

The Buffalo Sabres are on their way to the playoffs. At least they should be.

They have certainly put themselves in a position to end their 14-year playoff drought, and unless they totally screw things up over the next quarter of the season, they should at least be able to secure a wild-card spot. A top-three seed in the Atlantic Division could also be on the table.

What is craziest about this turnaround this season is that it was not a head coaching change or a major roster move that got things started.

It was a general manager change.

Imagine if Kevyn Adams gets GM of the Year votes in a season in which he was fired. It is possible. Enough general managers in that fraternity might be willing to throw some votes his way to send a message or show support.

Metropolitan Division: Pittsburgh Penguins vs. New York Islanders

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Pittsburgh Penguins (Metropolitan 2)

This started as a potential rebuilding year for the Pittsburgh Penguins, and now they are in a great position to make the playoffs.

The continued success of their veteran core players, combined with an influx of young talent led by center Ben Kindel and some shrewd offseason moves, has completely changed the season expectations and their timeline for success.

They are a top-10 team in the NHL standings, a top-10 team in 5-on-5 goal differential and pretty much every possession, scoring chance, and expected goal metric, and have top-five penalty kill and power play units.

They look like a playoff team. They also look like a team in a good position to potentially have home-ice advantage in the first round.

New York Islanders (Metropolitan 3)

Another team that was probably not expecting to be a playoff team this season, but it is awfully difficult to ignore the wins they have piled up and the position they have put themselves in.

The forwards are still lacking and could use a little more star power, but starting goalie Ilya Sorokin is playing at a Vezina- and MVP-level, while No. 1 overall pick Matthew Schaefer has completely changed the outlook for their defense and franchise for the next decade.

An 18-year-old defenseman is not supposed to step right into the NHL and be this good, this quickly. But he is, and it has changed the math on what this team is capable of this season.

Central Division: Colorado Avalanche vs. Seattle Kraken

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Colorado Avalanche (Central 1)

Even though the Avalanche have cooled off a little over the past 10 games, they still have a pretty commanding lead and several games in hand in their push for the top spot in the Central Division.

That place, as well as the No. 1 overall seed in the Western Conference, both look to be pretty set.

Between Nathan MacKinnon, Martin Necas, Brock Nelson, and Cale Makar, they have four really high-end players who are carrying the team, and some outstanding depth that has made them a dominant team even when MVP contender MacKinnon is off the ice.

With only nine regulation losses in their first 55 games, and with a five-point lead over the second-place team with three games in hand, this position is as close to locked in as you can get without it being mathematically certain.

Seattle Kraken (Wild Card 2)

As of this moment, the Kraken have a hold on third place in the Pacific Division, but I am not sure they hold on to it. This is still a rather uninspiring team that doesn't do a lot well outside of having some outstanding goaltending this season.

They are not particularly good offensively, their defense is only okay, and it looks like a team that will go only as far as its goaltending takes it.

And I'm not even really sure that is sustainable.

It might be enough to get them a wild-card spot and their second playoff appearance in franchise history. But that's about it. Especially if this is the matchup they draw in the opening round.

Central Division: Dallas Stars vs. Minnesota Wild

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Minnesota Wild (Central 2)

This might be the one playoff matchup you can safely pencil in for April.

Neither team is likely to catch the Avalanche for first place in the Central. There is also not really another team in the Central that is likely to catch the Wild or the Dallas Stars.

Minnesota looks like a Stanley Cup contender after adding defenseman Quinn Hughes to its roster, giving the Wild another superstar to pair up with forward Kirill Kaprizov.

They could still use an upgrade at their No. 2 center spot, especially after dealing Marco Rossi as part of the Hughes trade, but that is still very doable between now and the March 6 trade deadline.

Dallas Stars (Central 3)

Both the Wild and Stars should be considered serious Stanley Cup contenders in the Western Conference.

Both have all of the ingredients to reach the Stanley Cup Final.

We know Dallas is close simply because it has reached the Western Conference Final in each of the past three seasons and been one of the most successful postseason teams in the NHL over the past six seasons.

The Stars are just missing an actual Cup win to validate their status in that group. Given how the matchups are shaking out in the Western Conference, especially in this division, we also know that one of them is guaranteed to have an early spring and will lose in the first round.

Is that fair? Maybe not entirely.

Does it make for an incredible first-round matchup? It absolutely does.

Pacific Division: Vegas Golden Knights vs. Utah Mammoth

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Vegas Golden Knights (Pacific 1)

Of the four potential division winners, the Vegas Golden Knights are looking like the most flawed, or at least the weakest of the four, going into the playoffs.

That seems like an outrageous thing to say about a team that has Jack Eichel, Mitch Marner, and Mark Stone on it, but for as good as that trio is, things have not quite come together for the rest of the roster this season.

One of the biggest reasons they have not come together is that they are just not getting anywhere near enough goaltending.

That is going to be their biggest potential issue this season and the one thing that could significantly hold back an otherwise strong team that should be a Stanley Cup hopeful.

Utah Mammoth (Wild Card 1)

The Mammoth have been extremely aggressive over the past two years in adding talent to their roster, and when combined with the young core that is already in place, they have the makings of a very strong foundation to build on.

They also have some truly outstanding underlying numbers, and they enter the week with the sixth-best expected goals share in the NHL during 5-on-5 play.

They have a good process and good young talent.

They do not look like a playoff lock at the moment, and they still have a lot of work to do in terms of holding on to a spot, but given their 5-on-5 play and the play of some of the teams they are competing with, they should end up with the upper hand and secure a playoff spot to bring postseason hockey to Utah.

Pacific Division: Edmonton Oilers vs. Los Angeles Kings

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Edmonton Oilers (Pacific 2)

Welcome to the 2025-26 Edmonton Oilers experience, which is very similar to every Edmonton Oilers experience over the past decade.

Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are great, with the former looking like a potential league MVP and scoring champion.

The rest of the team? Not so much.

The Oilers have serious depth issues at both forward and defense, while the goaltending situation remains a huge question mark, with Tristan Jarry trying to lock down the top spot. His ability to play in big games was always a huge question in Pittsburgh, and now he has to try to solidify a spot for a severely flawed team trying to get two superstars their first championship.

They are going to be a playoff team.

But are they a good playoff team?

Are they capable of beating Colorado, Dallas, Minnesota, or Vegas in a best-of-seven series as currently constructed?

That remains to be seen.

Los Angeles Kings (Pacific 3)

The Kings are currently on the outside of a playoff spot right now.

They just lost one of their top forwards, Kevin Fiala, for the remainder of the season due to an injury at the Olympics.

But they also have Artemi Panarin joining the roster, a solid defensive structure, and a desperation to make the playoffs for Anze Kopitar to get one more run.

All of those factors are in play here. But so is the fact that I am just not sure I trust the Anaheim Ducks to hold on to a playoff spot, given their defensive play.

All of this also sets the stage for a potential fifth-consecutive first-round playoff matchup between the Oilers and Kings. Edmonton has won the previous four. Maybe the fifth time will be the charm for the Kings?

The Oilers certainly seem more vulnerable than they have in recent years, while the Kings finally have a superstar scorer in Panarin that could give them a chance to finally break through to the second round.