Offensively early Stanley Cup picks for 2026-27
The Stanley Cup has been handed out and passed around, and we congratulate the 2025-26 Carolina Hurricanes on a hard-fought victory.
In the coming days, we’ll see the NHL switch into offseason mode, with transactions swirling as teams begin their quests to knock Carolina off the throne in 2026-27.
That means it’s time for an annual tradition in our final Roundtable of the calendar:
Who is your offensively early Stanley Cup pick for 2026-27?
MATT LARKIN: I’m full of myself after picking Carolina for this exercise a year ago and predicting the Canes over Golden Knights in the Final back in October. I’m getting a pretty strong gut feeling about the Utah Mammoth, but I need to see more of their offseason maneuvering first. I think the Florida Panthers will reload with their team healthy and quickly turn back into the league’s bullies. They’ll get, in theory, a healthy Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk to open the year this time. They’ll be rested as a team after missing the playoffs following three consecutive trips to the Final. And it’ll be very interesting to see whether they re-sign UFA Sergei Bobrovsky or use his cap space to upgrade their lineup elsewhere and search for a bargain goalie instead. Whatever they do: you know GM Bill Zito will remain as aggressive as can be in putting a powerhouse on the ice.
SCOTT MAXWELL: I’m doing well in this tradition myself, having called the Panthers’ 2025 win and being oh-so-close to correctly predicting both the Golden Knights’ win and Mitch Marner winning the Conn Smythe. I’m tempted to follow Matt with the Panthers, but I am a little bit uncertain about what they’ll look like in net considering that was a driving force to their falloff last season. I could go with the Hurricanes for the repeat, considering how well they’re set up for long-term success. But I think I’m going to go with the Utah Mammoth. I really liked what I saw from them this season. Their young players have plenty of room to grow, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see them take a significant step forward, especially since they were the only team in the West to give Vegas a true fight. The Mammoth are also spoiled in the prospect department, which means they will either a) continue to get an influx of young talent onto their roster; or b) move those prospects for immediate help to put their roster over the top. Maybe I’m counting my eggs before they hatch with this group, but I would not be surprised to see them make a deep run next season.
PAUL PIDUTTI: I’m not as bullish on the Panthers as you fellas as I fear that even the rested version is getting a little long in the tooth for the playoff gauntlet. I’m going chalk and taking the Carolina Hurricanes to repeat. In a 10-year stretch, we saw back-to-back champs cover six Stanley Cups (Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay, Florida) so there’s recent precedent. The Canes will return a deep roster with most of their players still in their prime years. General manager Eric Tulsky has repeatedly proven he will take big swings and can extract value throughout the lineup, so I’d expect some offseason reinforcements. This group will go through a wall for coach Rod Brind’Amour, and I’m not sure any of up-and-coming Montreal, Buffalo, or Ottawa, or aging Tampa, Boston, Florida, or (cough) Toronto, are poised to play at the level we just witnessed in the Eastern Conference. I’m calling for the repeat.
ANTHONY TRUDEAU: I’ll take the Colorado Avalanche, who still boast the best roster in the NHL despite their surprise flameout against Vegas. After back-to-back legendary collapses, and with megastar Cale Makar entering the last year of his deal ahead of what will be a king-sized extension, motivation can’t get any higher for this already uber-competitive (see: MacKinnon, Nathan) group. It will be tough for the Avs to keep Artturi Lehkonen, Scott Wedgewood, and others after they pay Makar, and there is some thought that Jared Bednar could be coaching for his job. Could Colorado get some extra juice from what already feels like its ‘last dance’ moment? Perhaps after both MacKinnon and Makar played against Vegas while held together by duct tape, bubblegum, and a prayer, the oft-injured Avalanche will take a page out of the Vegas/Florida playbook and spend a little more time convalescing during the winter months in preparation for the real season.
STEVEN ELLIS: The Vegas Golden Knights are no strangers to aggressive moves, which makes me think they’ll try to improve their goaltending this summer. They’re deep all around – except in net. That feels like something they’ll have to address if they’re going to get back to the Stanley Cup Final and make up for the lost title. Trading for a goalie is obviously easier said than done, but they’ve got a strong enough core where stabilizing the crease should become the team’s next priority. On one hand, I wonder if a full season for Carter Hart ends up taking his game up another level. On the other hand, I think they absolutely should be in the running for any potential starter that gets mentioned over the next few months. Address that, and they’ll be in the hunt yet again.
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