We’re already a month into the 2025/26 NHL season, however the narrative presently being painted isn’t one which anybody anticipated heading into the brand new marketing campaign. The Florida Panthers have been purported to be set for a date with future as they gunned for the primary three-peat for the reason that Islanders’ dynasty of the Nineteen Eighties. Nevertheless, the Cats are already in turmoil, with accidents to superstars Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk leaving them 8-7-1, third backside of the Atlantic, and recollections of their back-to-back Cups immediately distant.
Conner Brown #16 of the New Jersey Devils tries to cross the puck in entrance of the online guarded by Dan Vladar #80 of the Philadelphia Flyers Picture Credit score – Jack.Good@prohockeynews.com
Admittedly, some heavyweights are thriving. The Colorado Avalanche have been one of many frontrunners in preseason, and so they stay that in November, gliding onto the ice as perennial Cup favorites with a league-high 11 wins. However elsewhere, the early goings of the brand new season have belonged to the underdogs.
As pucks dropped and our bodies collided, a collection of groups dismissed as afterthoughts have flung themselves to the league’s higher tier, with bookies and pundits alike scrambling to recalibrate their odds. However do any of those surprising contenders harbor any real hopes of claiming the Stanley Cup? Let’s have a look.
Devils
The Devils have been nobody’s favourite darkish horse, as depicted by their +2500 preseason odds with the bookies. Quick ahead a month and 11 wins, nonetheless, and now the NHL odds suppliers worth them as +1200 contenders. What’s modified? Nearly all the pieces.
Jack Hughes has shot out of the blocks like a person bent on breaking each franchise document, racking up 18 factors already. Analysts predicted fragility, particularly on protection. As a substitute, veteran goaltender Jake Allen has confirmed to be a brick wall, with the Backyard State outfit claiming six wins in eight when he’s between the pipes, his .914 save share the eighth finest within the league, and even conserving final summer time’s blockbuster new addition, Jacob Markström, on the sidelines.
However even fairy tales have their skeptics. Depth scoring stays an unfinished chapter, leaving a query mark on whether or not the underside six can maintain this early magic into the brutal grind of April. Nonetheless, the metrics again it up: the Devils aren’t simply wishful considering. If this engine retains buzzing and Hughes stays wholesome, you’re looking at a crew no one desires to fulfill 4 occasions in a playoff collection.
Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens’ transformation from rebuild fodder to headline story is considered one of hockey’s nice switcheroos. Toting a preseason line that had them at +7500 and a projected end of simply 90.5 factors, the chances screamed improvement, moderately than future. The outcomes, nonetheless, are inconceivable to disregard: a 10-4-2 scorcher has them high of the Atlantic and shrunk their odds all the way down to +4500 to convey the Cup again to the Bell Centre for the primary time in 33 years.
Cole Caufield is now a sniper within the truest sense—15 targets in 15 video games, tinged with a way of inevitability. Nick Suzuki, the metronome, retains each ends in sync, whereas Juraj Slafkovsky’s step-up has injected new hope. The penalty kill, working at a 79% success charge, suffocates opponents. Montreal at house is a drive of nature.
But their flaws pulse beneath the floor. The crew’s 8-0-1 document at residence masks a troubling lack of ferocity on the street—a significant flaw for any playoff hopeful. Goaltending, driving on the unpredictable Sam Montembeault, evokes no nice confidence. And that blue line, youthful and exuberant, has not but endured the crucible of playoff-style hockey. Write them off at your peril, however we nonetheless wouldn’t financial institution on the document champions returning to their former glories simply but.
Bruins & Penguins
Typically, satisfaction can mild a hearth when the hockey world has all however written your obituary. Boston and Pittsburgh entered the marketing campaign saddled with +20000 odds—hockey’s model of a lottery ticket. Each have been going through roster overhauls and the load of age, but neither has folded.
Boston, with David Pastrnak’s milestone targets and Jeremy Swayman’s .920 goaltending, has wrung each final drop from an growing old core. Their bodily forecheck ranks among the many league’s meanest, with hits coming in waves. However age has a price—depth is skinny, and the ability play (15% conversion) too blunt to threaten elite groups.
Pittsburgh, pushed by the unwithering magic of Sidney Crosby (22 factors at age 38), is defying each time and expectation. Malkin, Rakell, and a rejuvenated supporting forged have restored offensive verve—league-best even-strength scoring backs it up.
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However regardless of their brilliant begins, each groups stay priced at +15000 for a shock Cup upset. As such, they may want all the pieces to interrupt their method if they’re to mount an unlikely march subsequent spring. Whereas a playoff berth is inside attain, and a single-series upset is hardly unthinkable, the marathon Cup chase will doubtless expose their lack of depth, and they’ll virtually actually fall brief. A wildcard berth can be thought of successful, not to mention a championship.
Geese
Anaheim’s begin is the stuff of fevered underdog scripts—bookmakers lumped them in with the afterthoughts. As a substitute, the Geese personal an 11-3-1 begin, capturing 73% of obtainable factors and blazing towards a 119.8-point tempo. That’s not flirting with, however mocking, the 83.5-point projection they carried out of camp.
A lot of the magic begins with Leo Carlsson, whose 20 factors in his third 12 months have been each spark and stardust. Lukas Dostal in aim has offered the type of stability that turns lengthy nights into shock wins. Self-discipline is palpable: that is the least-penalized crew within the league, a testomony to each youth and buy-in. And offensively? Trevor Zegras’s return has catapulted their energy play into the highest echelon.
However the enjoyable could have a shelf life. The blue line lacks hardened playoff expertise—veterans to regular nervy moments, muscle to fend off top-tier forechecking. Regression looms, notably with such heavy reliance on Dostal’s unsustainably heroic goaltending. Playoff hockey is a special beast, punishing in methods the common season by no means threatens.
Anaheim, for all its aptitude, could also be nearer to a wild-card darling than a deep playoff risk. However as their momentum grows, opponents are studying to take them very, very severely.
