B/R NHL Staff Predictions For All 2027 NHL Playoff Teams

The long road to the 2027 Stanley Cup begins this week as all 32 teams report for training camp.

The bulls-eye will be on the defending champion Hurricanes, but before we get to the Cup, we have to determine which teams will make the postseason.

Our B/R NHL Staff provided their picks for all 16 teams that will make the 2027 NHL Playoffs.

Disagree with our panel? Submit your thoughts now in the comments section of the app!

Rising Young Teams Could Challenge Veteran Clubs

Joe Hrycych/Getty Images

Atlantic Division

Canadiens

Sabres

Lightning

Metropolitan Division

Capitals

Hurricanes

Flyers

Wild Card

Panthers

Bruins

Central Division

Stars

Wild

Avalanche

Pacific Division

Sharks

Ducks

Golden Knights

Wild Card

Mammoth

Oilers

A changing of the guard that began last season carries on in 2026-27.

Rising young teams, like the Canadiens, Flyers and Sabres in the Eastern Conference, and the Sharks and Ducks in the Western Conference, will challenge long-established veterans teams for dominance in the standings.

Those teams are still works in progress, but some (like the Canadiens, Sabres, and Sharks) have progressed better and faster than anticipated.

Several of those veteran teams, like the Lightning, Hurricanes, Stars, Avalanche, and Wild, possess enough talent in their prime to remain playoff teams and potential Stanley Cup contenders. For some, however, this could be their last good season before the inevitable decline begins.

Following a summer of significant player movement, the Capitals have a roster that (on paper) could make them among the league's best. Still, they are a team in transition, with this season expected to be Alex Ovechkin's last.

The Panthers and Oilers land among the wild card amid concerns about their goaltending and other roster issues. The Bruins are still retooling while the Mammoth are a promising team in a tough division.

- Lyle Richardson

One Last Hurrah for Ovechkin?

Jason Mowry/Getty Images

EAST

Atlantic

Canadiens

Panthers

Lightning

Metropolitan

Hurricanes

Capitals

Flyers

Wild Card

Sabres

Bruins

WEST

Central

Avalanche

Stars

Wild

Pacific

Golden Knights

Sharks

Ducks

Wild Card

Oilers

Mammoth

As esteemed colleague Lyle R. mentioned, we saw younger teams take some huge steps last season. Macklin Celebrini's breakout fueled the ahead-of-schedule Sharks as they dipped their fin into the playoff race, and the Canadiens gave us some of the most exciting games of the entire playoffs on their run to the ECF. 

This season, the young teams will keep rising: The Sharks and the additions they've made will make it to the playoffs, the Canadiens will get sturdier, the Sabres will hang in there despite big changes, and the Ducks will make the most of Leo Carlsson's payday. 

The big challenges out East? The Panthers are back, baby. They're healthy as ever; they've got two Tkachuk brothers in the fold, and they're hungry to reach dynasty status. The Capitals narrowly missed the playoffs last season with a record that would've punched a ticket in the West. Now, Alex Ovechkin is back, with the help of Alex Tuch and Jordan Kyrou, to end a legendary career on a high note. 

Out West, the Oilers have made some drastic moves in response to growing pressure and the final year of Connor McDavid's contract. It's hard to say if the drama will help or hurt the team's Cup hopes until the puck drops on the season, but I'm not going to bet against the best player in the world in the most desperate state we've seen him in. 

Still, as we saw last season, the Oilers have begun to lose the footrace against speedier, younger teams in their division. While I'm confident they will make the playoffs, I have a hard time believing they'll beat out that kind of up-and-comer talent and attitude with miserable brute force. 

-Sara Civian

Youth Is Served, But Not Everywhere

Rich Graessle/National Hockey League via Getty Images

New Jersey's Jack Hughes faces off with San Jose's Macklin Celebrini

EAST

Atlantic Division

Montreal

Buffalo

Florida

Metropolitan Division

Carolina

Washington

New Jersey

Wild Card

Toronto

Tampa Bay

WEST

Central Division

Colorado

Minnesota

Utah

Pacific Division

Edmonton

Vegas

San Jose

Wild Card

Dallas

Winnipeg

Do you like postseason turnover in your predictions? Fitz is your guy.

My calculations have no fewer than six teams in the 2026-27 tournament who were not in the 2025-26 mix, including youthful gate-crashers like New Jersey in the East and San Jose out West, while the others are familiar playoff commodities like Florida (remember them?), Washington, Toronto and Winnipeg.

That means it'll be a long season in Pennsylvania, where both Philadelphia and Pittsburgh are churned out of the Eastern race, Ottawa feels the Brady Tkachuk loss especially as the new Panthers advance, and a new regime in Toronto sneaks in while second-year man Marco Sturm and Boston take a seat.

Out West, it's time to give Macklin Celebrini and the Sharks their flowers, but it'll mean last year's darlings from Anaheim fall out of the mix along with the crosstown Los Angeles Kings. And that leaves room for the Winnipeg Jets, too, as muscle memory gets them closer to their Presidents' Trophy level of 2024-25.

It says here that Florida makes it all the way back from last season's injury-sopped oblivion. And who better for them to face in the final round than Connor McDavid and the Oilers, though we concede there's just as real a chance they're looking for a coach by American Thanksgiving and shopping No. 97 at the trade deadline.

- Lyle Fitzsimmons

Expect a Revival in the Metropolitan Division

Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

Adam Fox and Jack Hughes

Atlantic

Lightning

Sabres

Panthers

Metropolitan

Hurricanes

Devils

Rangers

Wild Cards

Maple Leafs

Senators

Central

Avalanche

Stars

Wild

Pacific

Oilers

Golden Knights

Kings

Wild Cards

Mammoth

Blues

I'm seeing a Metropolitan Division revival. The Hurricanes' stature speaks for itself. The New Jersey Devils, under new leadership, look to return to the run-and-gun hockey that served them well in the past, while adding some heavy play drivers such as Luke Evangelista. I nearly ranked them first in the division.

Meanwhile, the Rangers still have many problems, but GM Chris Drury has raised the floor. The top-four on defense is about as good as any in the NHL. JT Miller will presumably be healthy. The bottom six has the potential to be at least average. To me, they're a playoff team.

The Atlantic will be a gauntlet, and you can credibly rank the top-three teams in any order. The Panthers' forward group may be the best in the NHL, but I do wonder if defense and goaltending leave them slipping just behind Tampa Bay and Buffalo.

The West feels predictable, though I struggled to find a credible suitor for the second wild-card spot. I'll take a flyer on the Blues. There should be more stability this season, and strong campaigns from up-and-comers like Jimmy Snuggerud and Dalibor Dvorsky could allow for a run. Perhaps notably, the San Jose Sharks are missing. Macklin Celebrini alone may carry them into the playoffs, but I am not at all buying the defensive moves made this summer.

- Adam Herman

It's a New Age NHL with Old Rivals

Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

Jordan Staal and Nathan MacKinnon

Eastern Conference

Atlantic Division

Canadiens

Lightning

Panthers

Metropolitan Division

Hurricanes

Capitals

Islanders

Wild Cards

Sabres

Bruins

Western Conference

Central Division

Avalanche

Stars

Wild

Pacific Division

Golden Knights

Sharks

Oilers

Wild Cards

Ducks

Mammoth

It would be so easy to pick last year's playoff field, run it back with the same 16 teams, and decide that things will be different in some ways. But there's no way that happens... right? No shot.

The Capitals improved immensely, adding Alex Tuch and Jordan Kyrou, as did the Panthers with Brady Tkachuk and the return of Aleksander Barkov. The Oilers radically changed their on-ice leadership with Mike Babcock. The Canadiens made themselves more difficult to deal with by adding Chris Kreider.

There might still be more moves to come that change the outlook of the league, but where things get volatile in the East is how interchangeable the Metropolitan Division is and how ruthless the Atlantic is. The defending champion Hurricanes seem like locks, but the rest of the Metro will be wild. Sure, the Caps will bounce back, but everyone else will play ro-sham-bo, and the Islanders, with Ilya Sorokin in goal, Matthew Schaefer a year older, and Peter DeBoer in charge, seem like the kind of group that can win in a street fight among the rest of the division.

The Atlantic will be incredible. There's heat and hate all over the division, as the Lightning demonstrated by how they treated just about everyone who looked at them funny. The Canadiens, Sabres, and Panthers will join them in a battle royale atop the division, with the Bruins, Senators, and Maple Leafs fighting for the other wild card, with teams from the Metropolitan Division

In the West, it's hard to see how things change drastically in the Central. Colorado, Minnesota, and Dallas are among the best teams in the league, and with Utah trying to join the party, that makes things a bit more interesting. St. Louis or Nashville might creep in, and if things break really right, maybe Chicago or Winnipeg, but this division is so stacked on top it's hard to see things change.

In the Pacific, though, this really feels strange. Vegas' talent is hard to ignore, and the Sharks are on the rise. Even though the Ducks had a rough summer, they're still very good, and the Oilers still have Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. The Kings are in that mix too, but how they adjust without Anže Kopitar will be interesting.

- Joe Yerdon