B/R NHL Staff Predictions for the 2027 Stanley Cup Winner

And it all begins again on Tuesday.

The start of the 2026-27 season is finally here as the NHL expands to a new 84-game regular-season schedule. As always in the league, parity is paramount and there are many teams that could lift the Stanley Cup in the summer of 2027.

But which team will do it?

The B/R NHL hockey writers have provided their predictions below.

Montréal Canadiens Will Bring the Cup Back to Canada

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Nick Suzuki and Chris Kreider

Four years after finishing dead-last in the NHL standings, the Montréal Canadiens finished sixth overall last season with 106 points and advanced to the Eastern Conference Final.

This year, the Canadiens are no longer rebuilding. Led by young superstars Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield and rising stars Lane Hutson, Juraj Slafkovský, and Ivan Demidov, they're poised to take the next step as legitimate Stanley Cup contenders.

Goaltender Jakub Dobeš was the Canadiens' playoff hero last spring. If he can build on that, he could become a Vezina Trophy candidate. Meanwhile, Hutson, Noah Dobson, and Mike Matheson anchor the blue-line corps, with promising David Reinbacher waiting in the wings.

The Selke Trophy-winning Suzuki, 51-goal scorer Caufield, Calder Trophy runner-up Demidov, and power forward Slafkovský provide considerable firepower. The addition of Chris Kreider gives them a veteran net-front presence with considerable playoff experience.

Thanks to head coach Martin St. Louis and the shrewd management of hockey ops president Jeff Gorton and general manager Kent Hughes, the Canadiens are an emerging force in the Eastern Conference. They have what it takes to end Canada's 33-year Stanley Cup drought.

—Lyle Richardson

Hurricanes Go Back-to-Back

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Jordan Staal

Picking the defending Stanley Cup champions to repeat is boring and suggests I might be afraid to take a stand.

The truth is that Carolina's championship in June has little to do with this belief. In fact, the irony of last season is that it wasn't even GM Eric Tulsky's attempt at going for it.

If the Hurricanes' roster stays stagnant, they are already a contender and the team to beat in the East. A lack of true star power is compensated for by the deepest roster in the NHL, one in which the players play the relentless way the 'Canes do.

They're bringing back most players from last season. Talented but often-injured Freddie Andersen has moved to Edmonton, while the fate of defenseman Alexander Nikishin hangs in the balance.

I do not expect that the Hurricanes' roster will look the same by March as it does now. In fact, the headlines could come much sooner. They have almost every critical player locked up long-term and enter the season with nearly $8.5 million in cap space.

Remarkably, Carolina also has a surplus of draft picks, including an additional 2028 first-rounder from the Rantanen trade. It is poised to make a blockbuster addition. Maybe even two. Goaltender Connor Hellebuyck is the obvious candidate. You have to wonder about Dylan Larkin as well. The Hurricanes are going to be like a shark scenting blood for any top-six center who shakes loose.

Finally, it's about the path. Teams like Colorado, Tampa and Dallas might be just as good. Arguably, better. The Central and Metropolitan divisions are going to be a gauntlet, and they'll all have a tough time making it to the Conference Final. In comparison, the Hurricanes are best challenged in the Metropolitan by the New Jersey Devils, Washington Capitals and New York Rangers. Three teams that could make some noise but aren't true contenders.

The Hurricanes should comfortably win the division and then be the odds-on favorite to emerge from the Metropolitan. From there, it's anyone's guess how it goes, but even getting that far seems a lot more likely for Carolina than for any other team in the NHL.

—Adam Herman

Golden Knights Win It All

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Shea Theodore

I can already see folks cringing at the thought of Vegas winning the Stanley Cup again.

The reality is that every team in professional sports should want to do what the Golden Knights intend to do every season: win the championship. No long rebuilds, no organizational letters, none of that. To paraphrase a quote from a team that plays in the same city: Just win, baby.

Whether it's Jack Eichel or Mitch Marner, Vegas and general manager Kelly McCrimmon somehow find a way to land a big piece to improve the team. Now that may come at a cost to their future, but championships last forever. Rebuilds just feel like they do.

It helps that the Golden Knights play in the weak Pacific Division. No one is challenging Vegas for the top spot: not Anaheim, not San Jose, not Edmonton. Sorry, folks, it's Vegas' division to lose.

With the Central being a gauntlet, Vegas will have an easy road to the Stanley Cup Final. Sure, they'll need to see more from Carter Hart in goal, but if he reverts to his poor 2026 Stanley Cup Final form, McCrimmon and Co. aren't shy about being ruthless and finding another netminder. Oh, and they still have Stanley Cup-winning goalie Adin Hill on the roster.

Don't like it? Find a team that can beat them. The smart bet here says there won't be one.

—Lucky Ngamwajasat

Oilers Finally Break Through Behind McDavid

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Let's say you're forecasting the Stanley Cup winner for 2027.

You could pick Carolina. You could pick Vegas. You could pick Montréal.

And none would get you laughed out of your fan group.

Each finished in the top half of the regular-season standings in 2025-26, each was in the final four come playoff time, and the Hurricanes wound up hoisting the Cup.

No one will be (or should be) surprised if any of them are parading next summer.

But I'm more of an off-the-board guy when it comes to predictions. I'm saying it will be the Edmonton Oilers.

Full disclosure: I've been an Oilers fan since my age was in single digits. My now-teenage son is named after Ryan Smyth and Wayne Gretzky. And I attended games in the since-abandoned mecca once known as the Northlands Coliseum.

So, if you're suggesting it's a "homer" pick, you have a leg to stand on.

But it's not really.

Lest we forget, the Oilers have the league's best player in Connor McDavid. They have one of its elite snipers (and playmakers) in Leon Draisaitl. And they have a point-per-game defenseman in Evan Bouchard.

Any team with that sort of talent deserves to be taken seriously. Add in the focus on detail being preached by Cup-winning coach Mike Babcock and there's plenty of reason to believe a change in mindset will get Edmonton over the hump for the first time since 1990.

All I ask, when June comes, is that you remember where you heard it first.

But don't worry, regardless of where you are in Canada, the U.S. or elsewhere, you'll probably hear me celebrating anyway.

—Lyle Fitzsimmons

Carolina Repeats as Stanley Cup Champion

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It's almost always bland to say that a team that just won a title is going to go back-to-back and win it again, but when a team plays a smothering and panic-inducing style of hockey like the Carolina Hurricanes do, it just makes sense.

Carolina's brand of hockey has yet to be appropriately copied by anyone else in the league, which means there's no one else out there working on doing what it does but better.

Proven winning styles always get mimicked, and there are plenty of teams with elements of that out there. But Carolina has it down to an exact science. It won the Stanley Cup last season with a team playing a unified style and without eye-popping superstars on the roster.

Stars, yes, but a top-of-the-bill star of the sport? No, and that's just fine because it means they can roll four lines to make opponents wish they were playing anyone else in the league.

With defenders like Jaccob Slavin and K'Andre Miller, forwards like Sebastian Aho and Nikolaj Ehlers and goalies Brandon Bussi and Pyotr Kochetkov holding it down, there's no reason to think the Hurricanes won't run it back again.

They'll face a stiffer challenge within the Metropolitan Division from the Washington Capitals, while the team that emerges from the bruising Atlantic Division could be worn down by the time it reaches the Eastern Conference Final—just as the Montréal Canadiens were last season.

Although Vegas tested them in the Final last season, the Hurricanes' were too strong and will be again this season.

—Joe Yerdon