It’s never fair to hang nine years of playoff disappointment on one player. But in Toronto, that’s exactly how it feels, and the Maple Leafs are banking on subtraction leading to evolution. Since Mitch Marner’s debut in 2016–17,

Let's dissect four teams that missed the playoffs last year, who we believe have the best chance of qualifying in 2026.

The six-foot, 179-pound defenceman scored a goal in his NHL debut in Calgary's regular-season finale in April after compiling 33 goals and 74 assists and a plus-42 rating with the OHL's Saginaw Spirit.

Yes, really. For the first time, the NHL has added "common sense" to its official glossary of terms. Here's how the NHL defines "common sense" in the rulebook for the upcoming season: NHL Officials are empowered to use common sense. This applies to any situation or rule that isn’t explicitly covered in the rule literature.

Every NHL game during the 2025/26 season, including the Stanley Cup Playoffs, is available worldwide on DAZN, excluding the United States, Canada, and select others countries. With exclusive rights, DAZN is the only place internationally to watch the NHL, with access to over 1,300 games per season, available live* and on demand.

The Rangers have the sixth-best odds to win the Eastern Conference at all of the local sportsbooks, with odds ranging from +1050 at BetMGM to +1600 at DraftKings. Carolina, Tampa Bay, Florida, New Jersey and Toronto are the teams with better odds. Washington and the Ottawa Senators are in the same tier as New York.

Here are all 32 NHL teams ranked — in tiers! — from least to most watchable for the 2025-26 season.

With the 2025-26 NHL Season set to begin on Tuesday, October 7th, I thought it would be a fun idea to use EA Sports NHL 26 to predict how the Los Angeles Kings season will go. To pull this off, I used franchise mode and simply skipped to the end of the year.